Articles

On March 26, the United States Supreme Court decided Florida v. Jardines, which raised the question of whether or not a police dog searching for the odor of drugs on a person’s porch without a warrant constitutes a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. In a 5-4 opinion, the Court […]

What is SIP? State Intermediate Punishment, or SIP, is a substance abuse treatment program designed for drug offenders who would otherwise be sentenced to incarceration in a state prison. The SIP program officially began in May 2005 as a state equivalent to the Restricted Intermediate Punishment (RIP) program, which has been in existence in Pennsylvania […]

58-year-old David Ranta is now a free man, after spending the past 23 years in prison for a murder that he did not commit. In 1990, Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger was killed during a botched diamond heist in New York. Ranta was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 37½ years to life behind bars. Unfortunately […]

The Court of Appeals of Maryland has decided that the retroactivity of Maryland’s sex offender registration and notification law violates both the federal constitution’s and Maryland constitution’s bans on ex post facto laws. An ex post facto law is one that creates penalties for an act that was performed in the past (when the act […]

These days it is common knowledge that defendants in all criminal cases are entitled to a defense attorney, even if they cannot afford one. In fact, it’s right in the Miranda warning that nearly every American citizen is familiar with: “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will […]