The law attempts to provide a variety of protections to people who have been accused of a crime. Before and during a trial, the Constitution conveys numerous rights that are designed to prevent abuses on the part of the criminal justice system. After the trial, a losing defendant is allowed to appeal their case to […]
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency recently settled a lawsuit pending against it, Arquiett v. U.S., paying $134,000 to a woman whose photographs the DEA had used to create a fake Facebook profile to carry out drug stings. The DEA acquired the photographs off the woman’s cell phone after she was arrested on drug charges. The settlement did not […]
The law of campaign finance has been in a state of flux over the past few years. The U.S. Supreme Court issued landmark rulings in cases like Citizens United v. FEC and McCutcheon v. FEC. Wisconsin in particular has seen a variety of campaign finance-related rulings stemming from a probe into Governor Walker’s recall election. […]
Homicide laws are almost all focused on the intent of the person committing the crime. An intentional killing is treated as more serious than a killing that was merely done recklessly. Yet, there is one area of homicide law where intent is almost totally irrelevant: felony murder. Felony murder is a special type of homicide under Wisconsin […]
One of the most stressful things that can happen to any business owner is to have a set of federal investigators knock on the door to conduct an investigation into the company. This can come in a couple of forms. Sometimes, it will be a literal knock, investigators showing up without warning to conduct an interview. Other […]
People who purchase a gun tend to be aware that there are a variety of laws and other rules surrounding them, such as where the weapon is allowed to be used and how the gun may be carried. Yet, not as many people realized that a similar set of rules apply to other weapons, such […]
Wisconsin has something of a national reputation for being lenient on people charged with OWIs. In fact, Wisconsin is the only state that still treats a first-time OWI offense as a traffic violation rather than a criminal charge. Yet, that reputation for leniency may be about to change. The Wisconsin state legislature is considering a new bill that would […]
Police departments in Wisconsin have access to a little-known piece of technology with some surprising implications for privacy. Some squad cars now have an automatic license plate reader (ALPR). The system catalogs every license plate it passes and records the position in a police database. The ALPR system has proven useful in apprehending some criminals, […]
Although many drivers understand that they have certain rights during traffic stops, often these rights are misunderstood or go unexercised. Yet, with over 200,000 traffic stops a year according to a report by the Wisconsin State Patrol, many people stand to benefit from more clearly understanding their rights when interacting with the police. With regard to traffic stops, […]
From laptops to smartphones, computers have become a ubiquitous part of nearly everyone’s lives. People commonly joke that people have more computing power in their pockets today than NASA did when landing someone on the moon. As much as computers are helpful in everyday life, they have also created a new vulnerability, computer crime. Computer thieves, […]