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Reducing Drug Sentencing Through White Collar Crime Comparisons

Criminal justice in the US appears to be flawed due to overcrowded prisons and the language of laws, reports Jacob Shamsian. More than two decades have passed since Bill Clinton signed the 1994 Violent Crime Control Act in an attempt to curtail criminal offenses, asserts NPR.ORG. However, Thea Johnson and Mark Osler have authored a new paper on the rationale behind reducing drug sentencing. Where Is the Problem? Today’s punishments for drug-related offenses rely on the quantity of drugs. For example, punishments are given on the basis of weight of the substance. In many cases, the offender may only be tied to… Read More

Schools Look at New Methods for Preventing Sexual Assault on College Campuses

Throughout the United States, colleges are changing the way they address sexual assault, preventing sexual assault on college campuses. After the federal government passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act this summer, colleges are facing new rules and regulations regarding the way they handle sexual assault on campus. This new policy requires that students are trained on what consists of a sexual assault, and what to do if you are a bystander that is a witness to this crime. Students are now required to attend orientation on campuses that specifically identifies what sexual assault is, and what one can do to… Read More

Has Drunk Driving Prevention Technology Gone Too Far?

A person is to be considered innocent until they are proven to be guilty in a court or law. But the police, media, and general public often don’t see things that way when it comes to driving under the influence. A common consequence for a DUI conviction is a mandated installation of an Ignition Interlock Device. Now, lawmakers are working on legislation that would require all new automobiles to be equipped with a breathalyzer to measure the driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC). This would mean that anyone who buys and drives a new vehicle is assumed to be potentially guilty of… Read More

Sexual Assault on College Campuses: Balancing Student Safety with the Rights of the Accused

Sexual assault is an increasingly common problem on college campuses in California. Unfortunately, in their efforts to address this issue, many campuses go too far. In the aftermath of a few recent and well-publicized incidents, several campuses are pushing for or have already implemented concerning measures that could infringe on the rights of alleged student offenders. According to the Los Angeles Times, California lawmakers are aware of these measures and are currently looking into a proposal that would require schools to be more transparent about their means of disciplining student offenders.  Although it is important for schools to address the growing problem of sexual assault on college campuses, some skeptics… Read More

Juvenile Felonies in California Reclassified, Sentences Reduced Under Proposition 47

After the passing of California’s Proposition 47, persons convicted of some types of nonviolent property and drug crimes were able to have the charges reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. With this reclassification, criminal defense lawyers had the ability to petition on behalf of their client for shorter jail sentences and lowered fines. Due to the terminology of Proposition 47, a District Attorney in California’s second-most populated county argued that the reclassification would not apply to juvenile felonies. The DA stated that the terminology present in Proposition 47 was not used in cases brought against a minor and, therefore, only applied to… Read More

Car Theft Prevention: California Thieves go High Tech to Steal your Ride

Ahh, technology, the reason we’re cool in summer, connected to long lost crushes on Facebook and….hey, where’s my stuff? Thieves in California are turning to technology to steal the items you’ve secured in your car – and sometimes even the car itself, according to recent reports and warnings from the LAPD. How Thieves Break into Cars The electronic key fob that allows you to unlock your vehicle from afar also makes it easy for tech savvy thieves to gain access to your car, according to the LAPD. An inexpensive device called a power amplifier may be to blame for many… Read More

Future Vehicles to Auto-STOP Drinking and Driving

Across the US, organizations, law enforcement, and automakers have taken steps to protect the innocent from the horrors of drinking and driving. In 2013, 10,076 people lost their lives due to the negligence and impairment of drunk drivers, reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and automakers are making huge strides in preventing an impaired driver from getting behind the wheel, explains Jason Cipriani. A Fifth Vehicular Sense Vehicles will have a specialized touch pad in the steering wheel, or in the push-to-start button, with an embedded sensor to analyze the driver’s BAC, or blood alcohol concentration. In most states, a… Read More

Feds Aggressively Pursue Violators of White Collar Crime Law

Strategies that were once reserved to gather evidence on drug rings are now being employed to expose those individuals and organizations committing fraud and hiding assets. According to a recent Forbes article, recent federal agency cases have used wiretaps, informants and even undercover sting operations to provide evidence on key individuals. A case that targeted Steven Zinnel in the Eastern District of California shows the extent that federal agents are willing to go in order to build a case against those breaking white collar crime laws. It Begins with Bankruptcy and Divorce Federal authorities were given information from a third party that… Read More

Three Strikes and You’re Out: Is This Criminal Law Justice?

With an increasingly crowded penitentiary system and many offenders serving life in prison for nonviolent crimes, more and more critics of America’s current legal system – including California criminal defense lawyers– have been questioning the usefulness of the three strikes law in today’s society. The Law Though its name is largely self-explanatory in nature, California’s Three Strikes Sentencing Law isn’t quite as straightforward as it sounds. It mandates that anyone convicted of a second felony be sentenced to twice the sentence that a first would incur. For a third, the sentence must be at least 25 years, and possibly as long as life. In… Read More

Circumstantial Evidence and Drunk Driving Laws: You Need a Los Angeles DUI Attorney Now More Than Ever

If you’ve ever felt like the deck is stacked against you when it comes to drunk driving laws, you are justified in feeling that way. A recent ruling from California’s state Supreme Court is making life much more difficult for those who are charged with DUI. The court ruled that circumstantial evidence can be used to prove DUI. What does this mean in layman’s terms? It means that a police officer’s observations can be used in a court of law in an effort to prove that a motorist had an illegal blood-alcohol level. The court’s ruling is based on Ashley Jourdan Coffey’s lawsuit against the state… Read More

Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney Disclaimer: The felony, misdemeanor, traffic, criminal defense, drunk driving, DUI, theft, drugs, three strikes law, juvenile law, or other legal criminal defense information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice, nor the formation of a lawyer or attorney client relationship. Any results portrayed here were dependent on the facts of that case and the results will differ if based on different facts.