Articles

In a per curiam decision, Grady v. North Carolina, the United States Supreme Court on Monday granted the petitioner’s writ of certiorari and immediately vacated the judgment of the Supreme Court of North Carolina.  This decision allows two-time sex offender Torrey Dale Grady to challenge a tracking device that he was ordered by a state trial […]

In late February, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation requiring additional monitoring of sex offenders after they complete their prison sentence.  House Bill 446 (read in in full here) has now been referred to the Senate Law and Justice Committee for consideration.  HB 446 imposes a mandatory three-year probation period (“Probation Tail”) on […]

“The idea of total incarceration just isn’t working” – Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy “A Terrible Idea” – Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, when asked about mandatory minimums. On March 23, United States Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer marched across the street from the Supreme Court Building to Capitol Hill, ostensibly to […]

After Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf recently gave his support to the bi-partisan Medical Marijuana bill (SB 3), sponsored by Senator Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) and Senator Mike Folmer (R., Dauphin), it is looking more likely that Pennsylvania will become the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana.  Meanwhile, United States Senators Corey Booker (D., New Jersey), […]

In a damning expose, the Washington Post has laid bare the junk science that is “bite mark analysis,” the forensic method of looking at indentations found in human skin thought to be caused by human teeth.  The patterns are then matched to plaster molds taken of the teeth of suspects.  The article not only calls into question […]