Category Archives: Civil Rights
SCOTUS Case Update on Traffic Stops and Your Civil Rights
Another landmark criminal case has made its way through the judicial process in the US, as the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) answered some controversial questions through its decision in Kansas v. Glover. The key inquiry involves how far police may go in conducting investigations pursuant to traffic stops, specifically with respect… Read More »
SCOTUS Case on Traffic Stops Could Radically Change Your Civil Rights
The docket of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is always quite busy, but one case in particular will be important for anyone pulled over on suspicion of having a revoked or suspended driver’s license. The Justices will soon decide the case of Kansas v. Glover, in which a man was detained and arrested under… Read More »
Three Types Of Florida Police Encounters, Three Different Implications For Your Civil Rights
You have probably heard television and file detectives read someone their Miranda rights, or maybe ever heard them yourself if you were recently arrested. The language starts with “you have the right to remain silent,” and goes on to tell you about how your statements can be used against you. The reason law enforcement… Read More »
Judges May Compel Criminal Defendants to Provide Their Fingerprints to Unlock Fingerprint-Secure Smartphones and Devices
In our over-vigilant society, security and privacy are of the utmost importance to us. This is particularly important since we no longer leave our valuable information in file cabinets, but place them in clouds and on our phones, hovering in the ethereal until they are needed. Companies like Apple and Android, in an attempt… Read More »
Financial Bail Leads to Unequal Treatment Between the Haves and the Have Nots
Criminal justice reform attempts to address the various deficiencies that we find in our present-day justice system in hopes that the system will reflect the current values that our society holds true. One of the major issues that has come to the forefront over the last decade has been an increase in the incarcerated… Read More »
Florida’s “Stop and Frisk” Law: What Are Your Rights?
In our society, we, as citizens, are guaranteed the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure from the government. This right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as defined in the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, extends protection of that right to persons, as well as their homes,… Read More »
Wrongful Conviction Compensation Now Tax-Free
The extent in which technology has advanced over the last two decades has led to a significant increase in wrongful convictions exonerating the criminal defendant. Many states have been reassessing their current wrongful conviction compensation plans that provide restitution to criminal defendant for years served as a result of the conviction. Unfortunately for many,… Read More »
Florida’s Aging Prison Population: Increased Medical Costs on the State Lead to Options, Programs for Elderly Inmates
According to study published in September 2014, called Florida’s Aging Prisoner Problem, it was estimated that Florida’s elderly prison population (“elderly” defined as over the age of 50), increases every year by more than 1,000 prisoners. Since 2000, the elderly prisoner population has jumped from around 5,600 prisoners to roughly 21,000 prisoners in the… Read More »
Right to Makeup Artist to Cover Up Facial Tattoos?
When you are a criminal defendant at your own criminal proceedings, there are many things that you must decide that will affect the ultimate outcome of your case. Though you have an attorney advising you, it will be up to you to decide if you want to take a plea deal, go to trial,… Read More »
What’s in a Face?… Maybe a Harsher Sentence
Our society upholds the ethos that justice is blind, that no matter who you are and what you look like the correct and just verdict will be handed down based on the offense committed, the substantial advocacy and defense by an effective attorney, and the deliberations of a whole jury panel of our peers…. Read More »