Cato on Campus - Law: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement

Drinking Age Revisited

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:49:00 EDT

By Brandon Arnold: "Yesterday, over a hundred college presidents called for a reexamination of the current minimum drinking age and suggested it should be lowered. This is great news and could serve as an opportunity to begin an intelligent national dialogue on improving alcohol policies."

C.S.Oy

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:24:00 EDT

By Radley Balko and Roger Koppl: "But as forensic evidence becomes more and more important in securing convictions, the need for monitoring and oversight grows exponentially. Every other scientific field properly requires peer review, statistical analysis, and redundancy to ensure quality and accuracy. It's past time we applied the same quality-control measures to criminal forensics, particularly given the fundamental nature of what's at stake."

Why California Medical Marijuana Dispensary Owner Charlie Lynch Was Found Guilty in Federal Court of Selling Drugs

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EDT

"In this latest reason.tv video, we talk to Lynch's lawyers and the forewoman of the jury to find out precisely how Lynch got convicted and what happens next. It's a disturbing, provocative video that should make even the hardiest drug warrior wonder just what the hell we're doing locking up businessmen who play by the rules and give aid and comfort to sick people."

Elevator Arguments for Drug Policy Reform

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:25:00 EDT

By Pete Guither: "So you�ve been studying hard and you�re starting to amass an incredible amount of data supporting drug policy reform. You�re ready to make a difference.
And then opportunity presents itself. Somebody actually asks you a question about drugs... just as you get on the elevator. But here�s the problem � he�s getting off at the 12th floor and you�re going to 14. What do you do?"

Consenting to Be Abused

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:47:00 EDT

By Steve Chapman: "In a nation founded on respect for the rights of every person, these searches give all priority to the power and convenience of the government, while mocking the liberties we are supposed to have. Why would we consent to that?"

Criminal Justice Unfairly Ignored on Trail

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:32:00 EDT

By Radley Balko: Given that enforcing federal law is one of the few presidential powers explicitly prescribed the Constitution, here are some criminal justice policy questions for John McCain and Barack Obama:

The Second Amendment Goes to Court

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:23:00 EDT

Alan Gura, Glenn Reynolds, Randy Barnett, Brian Doherty, Sanford Levinson, Jacob Sullum, and Dave Kopel respond to D.C. v. Heller

Democrats Capitulate on FISA

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:45:00 EDT

By Julian Sanchez: "Democrats are trying to rationalize capitulating on surveillance and telecom immunity in the new FISA bill by calling it a compromise. It isn't."

Commie Ball: A Journey to the End of a Revolution

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:14:00 EDT

By Michael Lewis: "Some of the greatest baseball players the world has never seen are in Cuba, where their talent is government property, and their only chance of turning pro is the risky boat ride to Florida. Gus Dominguez, an L.A. sports agent, has done more than anyone to help escaped players join major-league U.S. teams, but now he sits in a California jail, convicted of smuggling athletes."

Raiding California�Drew Carey on Medical Marijuana and Minors

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:15:00 EDT

"Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?"

Texas Supreme Court: Return the Children

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:15:00 EDT

By Tim Lynch: "[T]he Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Child Protective Services (CPS) abused its discretion by seizing 468 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints ranch in Eldorado."

Drew Carey Reports on the Tragically High Cost of Building a Border Wall

Wed, 28 May 2008 09:51:00 EDT

"At a time when pundits and politicians of all stripes endorse securing the border between the United States and Mexico, reason.tv travels south to see what's really going on�and what the human and monetary costs are of amping up border patrols."

Mississippi Drug War Blues�the Case of Cory Maye

Thu, 08 May 2008 14:17:00 EDT

The latest Drew Carey Project video for reason.tv tells "a story about the intersection of race, the war on drugs, the disturbing increase in the militarization of police tactics, and systemic flaws in the criminal justice system. It is a tragedy in which one man is dead and another may spend his life in prison without possibility of parole."

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, Hounded to Death

Fri, 02 May 2008 09:32:00 EDT

By David Boaz: "Faced with the prospect of years in prison, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the �D.C. Madam,� committed suicide on Thursday. Her pursuers and prosecutors should be ashamed of themselves."

America on drugs

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:14:00 EDT

"In the Los Angeles Times, Jacob Sullum debates Cully Stimson about drug policy in a back-and-forth argument that's wraps up today."

Bail Bondsmen, Bounty Hunters and Private Prisons

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:21:00 EDT

"America�s free enterprise system is at work in many aspects of the criminal justice system. Profit-making bail bondsmen who help defendants post the money needed for their freedom pending trial are common in the U.S. but virtually unheard of across the rest of the world. Bounty hunters lured by big payouts find criminals who have previously eluded the police. And private companies are building and operating prisons and detention facilities."

The Dance, Dance Revolution Will Be Televised After All

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:19:00 EDT

By Julian Sanchez: "The plan had been to celebrate the birth of the author of the Declaration of Independence by congregating, flashmob style, for ten minutes of quiet iPod-fueled dancing, then repair to a pub nearby. Instead, park police brought the party to an abrupt halt, arresting 28-year-old Brooke Oberwetter and leading her away in handcuffs, while chasing the rest of the group off."

Wiretapping's True Danger

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:19:00 EDT

By Julian Sanchez: "Without meaningful oversight, presidents and intelligence agencies can -- and repeatedly have -- abused their surveillance authority to spy on political enemies and dissenters."

The D.C. Gun Ban Supreme Court Case

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:19:00 EDT

Tom Palmer, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, talks about the DC gun ban on Reporter's Roundtable.

Spitzer's Hypocrisy: Worse Than You Think

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:27:00 EDT

By Paul Karl Lukacs: "Libertarians are understandably of two minds about L�Affaire Spitzer. On the one hand, a dedicated public servant will probably lose his job, and may be indicted, due to consensual liaisons and payments that should be a private matter completely outside the ambit of Justice Department wiretaps. On the other hand, Spitzer�s been hoisted by the moralistic petard that he can regulate any and all sexual behavior with which he disagrees, wherever it occurs. As Barabash said Monday, 'It couldn�t have happened to a nicer guy.'"

The Wire's War on the Drug War

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:28:00 EDT

By Ed Burns, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon: "If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will � to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty � no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens."

I'd rather be Hanged for a Sheep than a Lamb: The Unintended Consequences of 'Three-Strikes' Laws

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:40:00 EST

By Radha Iyengar: "Using criminal records data, I estimate that Three Strikes reduced participation in criminal activity by 20 percent for second-strike eligible offenders and a 28 percent decline for third-strike eligible offenders. However, I find two unintended consequences of the law. First, because Three Strikes flattened the penalty gradient with respect to severity, criminals were more likely to commit more violent crimes. Among third-strike eligible offenders, the probability of committing violent crimes increased by 9 percentage points. Second, because California's law was more harsh than the laws of other nearby states, Three Strikes had a "beggar-thy-neighbor" effect increasing the migration of criminals with second and third-strike eligibility to commit crimes in neighboring states."

Gun Buybacks a Noble Idea That Always Misfires

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:12:00 EST

By Alex Tabarrok: "Did no one running the program think to look at the price of a new gun? In fact, the first two people in line at one of the three buyback locations were gun dealers with 60 firearms packed in the trunk of their car. One wonders why the police even bothered to buy the guns from Oakland residents. Why not buy directly from gun manufacturers?"

Limits on Eavesdropping Need to Stay

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:55:00 EST

By Timothy B. Lee and Gene Healy: "Modern computer technology makes the potential for the abuse of unfettered executive power much greater today. Judicial oversight is at least as important in the 21st century as it was in the 20th, and Congress should resist Bush's demand for unchecked spying powers."

The Bite-Marks Men

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:03:00 EST

By Radley Balko: "These may turn out to be the first in a string of exonerations we'll see coming out of Mississippi. For the last 20 years, the state's criminal autopsy system has been in disrepair. Nearly every institution in the state has failed to do anything about it."