Year: 2016
The case of Miguel Navarro, a Hispanic teenager, who was sentenced to 99-years in an adult prison before he could drive or reach high school, has highlighted Texas’ controversial juvenile justice system. Navarro was just 15 in 2007, when he stabbed a 20-year-old during a fight in Katy, Texas. A Houston Public Media report pointed…
Bite mark evidence as a forensic science technique used at crime scenes has been under fire for some time. Now a new paper has urged law enforcement agencies to discontinue its use. The paper in Journal of Law and the Biosciences outlines the legal basis for the rise of the bite-mark identification technique and its…
The U.S. Supreme Court is to look at whether Texas should put to death a convicted killer with an intellectual disability. Attorneys for 57-year-old Bobby James Moore argue the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in the state, disregarded existing medical standards in favor of outdated ones when it decided Moore wasn’t mentally…
Cyber security experts say everyone should be cautious about providing information to online sites. As the 2016 holiday shopping season gets underway, cybersecurity firms warn that hackers could cost retailers big and small millions of dollars. According to a Fortune report, hackers have the power to not only steal consumer data, but to take down…
Advocates say that sleeping is a human necessity and that cities that wish to make sleeping in public illegal have a moral and legal obligation to provide adequate and affordable housing. Homelessness is a major problem in some cities across the country. Likewise, certain states struggle with homelessness more than others. For example, Hawaii has…
Sexual assaults on children are understandably abhorrent to society and juries and taint a defendant’s reputation for years afterwards. However, there are many factors that can lead young witnesses to make false statements. Children are susceptible to a wide range of factors and can be manipulated by prosecutors. A case in point is that of…
The FCC’s decision is a potential blow to broadband companies. Few people can get through the day without using the internet. Whether you’re checking your email or sending documents to a work colleague, you probably need the web to get things done. In fact, a staggering 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created online every…
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has reiterated his determination to make violence against police officers a hate crime after a law enforcement officer was shot dead in San Antonio. Detective Benjamin Marconi, a 50-year-old police officer, was shot in the head on Sunday after he pulled over a vehicle near San Antonio police headquarters building in…
If you have been charged with a high-profile crime, defamation could play a role in your case. The media has taken something of a beating from both political parties this campaign season. The debate over what constitutes “fair” or “accurate” reporting has highlighted why it’s so important for the public to be able to trust…
Certain types of speech can be classified as “hate speech,” and they often fall into a gray area between protected speech and unlawful speech. Hate speech is often a poorly understood area of law. In many cases, hate crimes are prosecuted under federal law. If you have been charged with this type of crime, you…