The National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) stirred controversy last year by publishing advice from a prominent law firm on ways colleges and universities can protect themselves against increasingly numerous and complex lawsuits filed by students involved in campus sexual misconduct hearings. The 18-page article, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A […]
Author: Scott Limmer
Article: Will Federal Policy on Marijuana Change under President Trump?
Among the many things for which the administration of Donald J. Trump is being scrutinized is whether it will seek a major shift in federal policy on marijuana – and, if so, in which direction. It was one of a host of issues on which Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) drew sometimes hostile questioning in January […]
Article: Man Hit with DUI Charge, Even When Tests Show Only Caffeine
Driving home from work on an interstate north of San Francisco in August 2015, glassworker Joseph Schwab, 36, was waved over to the side of the road by an agent of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, who accused Schwab of cutting off her unmarked vehicle, weaving in and out of traffic, and driving […]
Article: Judges Split on Warrant to Tape
Does the FBI Need a Warrant to Tape Outside a Federal Courthouse? In under two weeks, two California-based federal judges have come up with sharply different answers to the same question: does the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) need a warrant to use hidden recording devices to make audio or videotapes outside federal courthouses? Both […]
Article: Model Penal Code Doesn’t Add Controversial “Affirmative Consent” Provision
Proponents of affirmative consent (discussed earlier here) argue that, to avoid sexual assault charges, you should have to prove your sexual partner gave clear, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity – and not just at the outset, but before each new action. While this may strike you as closer to a protracted […]
Article: Still Some Bugs in California’s Database of Gang Members
About the CalGang Database For over two decades, California law enforcement agencies have been compiling CalGang, a massive state-funded database designed as a shared criminal intelligence resource for local law enforcers. At last count, it identified over 150,000 persons as gang members or gang associates. But a harshly critical audit of the database, requested by […]
Article: Combating Campus Sexual Assaults without Stacking the Deck against the Innocent
Some colleges and universities have for years come under fire, from students and critics outside the campus accusing them of having done little to address or prevent instances of sexual attacks against students– or perhaps even to have covered them up. A partial response was a federal law requiring campuses to report violent crimes; another […]
Article: College Assaults: Gauging the Problem’s Size Helps Avoid Extreme Steps
In the previous articles in this series, I noted that advocates for “yes means yes” and similar measures billed as fighting college sexual assaults frequently make exaggerated claims on how frequent such offenses are. But if you’re looking for workable solutions, it’s important not to overstate the real dimensions of the problem. Here’s one example […]
Article: Lawbreakers Misuse Even the Newest Tech to Their Disadvantage
No matter how fast technology advances, the resourcefulness of certain people in using it to their disadvantage somehow manages to keep pace. By now, you’ve no doubt heard or read of these lawbreakers who greatly helped law enforcement by posting Facebook selfies showing themselves engaged in clearly criminal wrongdoing. One prime example was the Tennessee […]
Article: You Can Be Guilty of Vehicular Homicide Even If Not Driving
Driving While Intoxicated There’s no doubt 28-year-old part-time student James Ryan was driving drunk on the Long Island Expressway (LIE) in the pre-dawn hours of October 18, 2012. He was coming back from an evening of drinking in Manhattan, and his blood-alcohol test registered over 0.13%, well above New York’s 0.08% DUI threshold. His Camry […]