This week, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Fernandez v. California, 12-7822. The fact pattern is simple enough. The police observe a fleeing suspect from a violent robbery enter an apartment and hear screams from inside. They knock on the door, and a person other than the suspect answers. […]
Welcome to the first weekly CRCL news roundup. Each week, a contributor to the CRCL blog will pick out a few interesting items from the past week concerning civil rights and civil liberties. Here are a few articles to start off your week: 1. “Scenes from a Militarized America: Iowa […]
Today, the internet was abuzz with the news of President Obama commuting the sentences of eight convicted criminals. Their crimes? Nonviolent crack cocaine offenses. Each prisoner had already served time of over fifteen years, and six of the eight prisoners were carrying out life sentences. In a statement, President Obama […]
CR-CL’s Unofficial Study Playlist It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, I don’t mean Thanksgiving. It’s time for outlining and consolidating all the knowledge we have accrued this semester. And during all that feverish writing, there are still dishes to wash and, in my apartment, there are still […]
Last week, Alan Alda stopped by the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT to promote his newest PBS documentary, Brains on Trial. The two part series seeks to explore how advancements in neuroimaging technology might one day impact the criminal justice system. (You can watch the documentary here.) Joining […]
IN DOUBT: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESS. By Dan Simon. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 2012. Pp. 405. $45.00 I. The criminal justice process does not work as well as we think it does. Set aside the overworked public defenders who cannot provide adequate counsel[1] and the inordinate […]
Even if the bombings and the shootings and yesterday’s regional lockdown have been occupying the national (and even international) media, it is important to work through some of the legal implications of these events.
Guest Post by Jacob Alderdice, HLS ’14 Harvard PLAP Panel on Solitary Confinement Solitary confinement, a practice that has been under scrutiny for hundreds of years, continues to be widespread within United States prisons. Despite abundant medical literature detailing the severe and disastrous effects such isolation can cause, correctional […]
“Aaron’s Laws: Law and Justice in a Digital Age” Feb. 19, 2013 Watch the lecture here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HAw1i4gOU4&feature=youtu.be. PLEASE WATCH IT Professor Larry Lessig, the most famous legal scholar of the internet gave his chair lecture today in Harvard Law’s Ames Courtroom, which was packed with students, professors, […]
Reviving the trespassory model of the Fourth Amendment, the Court in U.S. v. Jones has raised more questions about data privacy than it answered. If the mere existence and transmission of data can signal a lack of a reasonable expectation of privacy, the only way to demonstrate a subjective interest in privacy will be to go off the grid. There has to be a better way.
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