Prosecutors and criminal defendants have a plethora of options in order to avoid the costly and sometimes risky proposition of trial. They range from standard pleas all the way to complex diversion programs for defendants. Although pleas make up an overwhelming majority of criminal dispositions, there are several options that enable defendants to avoid the long-term implications of a guilty plea. These options are typically only offered at the discretion of the prosecutor. On

On November 1, roughly 1,400 non-violent offenders will be released from Louisiana state prisons. This action is the result of statutory changes made in June, when Governor John Bel Edwards (D) signed 10 bills into law, made effective on August 1, to overhaul the state’s criminal justice system. Louisiana currently has the highest incarceration rate of any state. In 2014, the state imprisoned 816 people per 100,000. But as a result of the new laws, 16,000 of the 35,500 tot

Substance use disorder is a public health crisis, with 1.5 times more individuals suffering from addiction than all those suffering from cancer combined. Further, among those in prison, 46% of all violent and non-violent crimes committed, are drug-related. The larger problem arises when these two statistics intersect. What results is a large percentage of individuals being funneled through the criminal justice system who on the one hand, we want to treat, but on the other, co

August was a particularly brutal month for the Baltimore Police Department’s credibility. From July 20th to August 21st, three separate severe incidents of officer misconduct came to light. This is particularly disheartening as these body cameras were put in place last May to restore public confidence in a department long plagued by charges of corruption. These incidents hit even harder as the Baltimore Police Department was still reeling from their March debacle in which se

On October 4, 2017 The Supreme Court heard the oral argument for Class v. United States, a case regarding whether a Petitioner has waived their right to appeal a conviction solely because of plea bargaining itself. However, applying the court’s Blackedge-Menna doctrine, a defendant who has pleaded guilty can “challenge his conviction on any constitutional ground that, if asserted before trial, would forever preclude the State from obtaining a valid conviction against him.” He

On October 1st, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, shooting over five hundred people, killing just under sixty. One man, bent on violence, ruined the lives of hundreds. This man should not have had a gun. Nothing is going to get done about this. Context is important. People hate me when I talk about gun control. Conservatives think I’m trying take their guns, and Liberals think I’m just another hick who loves violence. I believe in strict gun contro

Thomas Jefferson, our beloved president, once wrote, “I consider (trial by jury) as the only anchor, ever yet imagined by man, by which government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” Considered a fundamental right, this “anchor” could be tarnished by the harmless error doctrine. When enacted, the harmless error doctrine attempted to prevent against the “impregnable citadels of technicality,”which allowed criminal defense attorneys to easily overturn guilty ver

The opioid epidemic has continued to be a national issue that has plagued our country for multiple years and is showing no signs of abating any time soon. In 2015, 35,000 Americans have died because of heroin or opioid overdoses alone. In 2016, 20,145 Americans died from synthetic opioid overdoses and a little over 15,000 died from heroin overdoses. Just as alarming, according to the CDC, while opioid prescriptions have started to decline the number of opioid-involved overdos