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Criminal Justice

HB 1105: Criminal Alien Track and Report Act of 2024

The Act authorizes state law enforcement to verify suspects’ immigration statuses, requires that local government agencies cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and mandates detailed, consistent reporting on non-citizen inmates. It aims to promote public safety, enhance state immigration laws such that they align with federal immigration laws, and ensure that

Judicial Sentencing Discretion Post-Booker: Are Judges Getting a Distorted View Through the Lens of Social Networking Sites?

Jessica Binkerd, a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, probably never imagined that pictures taken from her MySpace website would one day help send her to jail. Regrettably, that is exactly what happened. On August 6, 2006, Binkerd was driving her co-worker, twenty-five-year-old Alex Baer, home from a

The Surprising Lessons from Plea Bargaining in the Shadow of Terror

Since September 11, 2001, several hundred individuals have been convicted of terrorism related charges. Of these convictions, over 80% resulted from a plea of guilty. It is surprising and counterintuitive that such a large percentage of these cases are resolved in this manner, yet, even when prosecuting suspected terrorists caught