A recent New York Times editorial notes that Americans are increasingly speaking out against the death penalty. In the article, the editorial board makes one of the keenest observations about the why the death penalty may be headed for the dustbin.In December, the...
Month: December 2016
Officer’s use of police discretion builds public trust
Media coverage of police over the last few years has not been complimentary. Stories about excessive force and racial bias have strained relationships between police and the communities they serve.But not all stories are bad, and it is important to note when police...
Revenge porn laws may be unfamiliar legal territory
Cyberbullying has become rampant with the advent of new technologies and ubiquitous online social media outlets. But over the last few years, internet bullying has taken a particularly ugly turn. When harassment includes the publication or distribution of sexually...
Wisconsin internet sting operation leads to three arrests
Police in Wisconsin sometimes turn to undercover operations in their law enforcement efforts. When it comes to sex crime enforcement, one type of undercover operation authorities sometimes use are internet sting operations. These stings sometimes lead to individuals...
Language barrier impedes Waukesha prostitution case
Over the past several weeks, police have been investigating Waukesha massage parlors accused of engaging in prostitution. On December 14, 2016, police arrested four women but have yet to bring charges against them. One reason for the delay is the ongoing nature of the...
Juveniles pleading insanity in homicide to be tried in adult court
In 2014, the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin was rocked by the attempted homicide of a young girl by two of her classmates. The 12-year-old girls who allegedly stabbed their friend multiple times claimed they did so in order to please a mythical, evil character they...
Juveniles receive life sentences counter to Supreme Court ruling
Among the 68 inmates in Wisconsin prisons for crimes they committed as juveniles sits a 33-year-old Milwaukee woman convicted of first-degree intentional homicide. She was only 13 years old -- and pregnant -- when she stood by and watched her boyfriend...
Random drug testing and Wisconsin schools
Legislation is currently being developed which, if passed, could have big impacts on Wisconsin schools and their students. The proposal regards drug testing at school.It is expected that the proposal, which is currently being drafted by a lawmaker from Oconomowoc and...
Police officers try new test kits to check for drugged driving
Although Wisconsin police officers are trained to recognize when drivers are most likely drunk, establishing whether drivers are high presents a different challenge. The state of Wisconsin does employ drug recognition training to teach officers what to look for, but...
Pleading guilty as a criminal defense strategy
In a 2013 article for The New York Review of Books, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff writes that "of the 2.2 million Americans in prison, over 2 million are there because of plea bargains." He also contends that somewhere between 2 and 8 percent of those people are...