Typically, a police officer must have “reasonable suspicion” of a violation of law in
order to make a traffic stop. However, this is not true of sobriety checkpoints. ...
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Inadvertently highlighting the criminal justice system's inability to deal with mental illness,
a three justice panel of the Ninth Circuit determined that the Bureau of Prisons cannot forcibly
medicate Jared Lee Loughner with psychotropic drugs....
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Until last week, James "Whitey" Bulger had been on the lam for 16
years. Facing allegations of 19 mob-related murders, Bulger was on the
FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List. As the Winter Hill Gang leader, Bulger
became an legendarily untouchable crime boss through extortion,
racketeering, murder, drug trafficking, and theft. ...
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Last week, the Supreme Court held that sentencing courts cannot impose
or lengthen a prison term in order to foster a defendant’s
rehabilitation. In an case from the Southern District of California,
defendant Alejandra Tapia was convicted of smuggling unauthorized aliens
into the United States. The District Court sentenced Tapia to 51
months, citing Tapia’s need for drug treatment. However, the Supreme Court reversed the
decision and held that sentencing...
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