June 29, 2016
Who would have thought that a New York City traffic regulation would end up the subject of a constitutional battle? But that’s what has happened in the Big Apple, where a Queens judge ruled that the one of the city’s “Vision Zero” traffic laws is unconstitutional. The regulation at issue in the case, §19-190 of the New York City Administrative Code, provides additional penalties for failure to yield the right of way on city streets. […] Read On
June 10, 2016
To read some of the recent claims by law enforcement and by politicians, you’d think that we were in the midst of the greatest crime wave in history. Without elaborating on those claims, the pundits then go on to blame specific groups, specific lawmakers, and specific policies for the alleged wholesale destruction of the fabric of America. But hold on just a minute. Here are a couple of examples of what we’re talking about. FBI […] Read On
June 3, 2016
Peter Liang is an ex-police officer with the NYPD. He was convicted in February of manslaughter in the accidental fatal shooting of an unarmed man in a housing project in Brooklyn. After the verdict was announced, but before Liang was due to be sentenced, media reports claimed that one of the jurors lied to the attorneys in the case. During voir dire – the questioning of potential jurors prior to trail – the juror said […] Read On
June 2, 2016
It was October 1963. John F. Kennedy was President. Singer Sam Cooke was arrested for trying to register at a “whites only” motel in Louisiana. A first class stamp cost 4¢. And Lawrence Rothbort was shot to death in his Brooklyn apartment. Shortly after the Rothbort shooting, a 29-year old man, Paul Gatling, was questioned about the killing, then arrested and charged with first degree murder. He was facing the death penalty. A year later, […] Read On
May 6, 2016
Before we talk about the drop in crime in New York City, we should briefly describe what has occurred here over the past 25 years. Back in 1990, there were about 530,000 crimes reported. The specifics include the following arrests statistics: 2,245 murders. 17,497 transit crimes. 24,000 (approx.) criminal trespass arrests. 47,000 (approx.) marijuana arrests. Over the course of a quarter century, all those numbers have been reduced drastically. For example, there were 352 murders […] Read On
April 29, 2016
It’s not every day that you read or hear news about the New York Department of Corrections. But over the past several months, there has been no shortage of stories on the DOC, most of them negative. And the stories don’t stop with the DOC; they extend to the head of the correction officers union. As we all know, the report of an allegation in the news doesn’t mean that anyone is guilty of anything. […] Read On
April 9, 2016
You might conclude that the police department in Parma, Ohio hasn’t much of a sense of humor. They appear to have been so incensed at a parody of their Facebook page that they’ve arrested the man responsible and charged him with a felony, “disrupting public services.” Anthony Novak created a Facebook page entitled “The City of Parma Police Department.” In it, Novak inserted numerous articles about the goings on in the city, and it’s the […] Read On
March 22, 2016
A new NYPD policy went into effect on Monday. Mayor Bill de Blasio, Commissioner Bill Bratton, and Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance have announced that those who are accused of certain minor offenses will receive summonses, and will not be arrested. There is, of course, some opposition to the move. Without belaboring the point, the gist of that opposition is the claim that receiving a summons, as opposed to being handcuffed and hauled into jail, will […] Read On
March 3, 2016
A battle is raging over the encryption of iPhone data between Apple, which manufactures the devices, and the FBI, which would like to access the encrypted data. The feds say specifically that they want to see what’s in the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook’s cellphone. Farook is one of the suspect’s in the recent San Bernardino shootings. The shootings left 14 victims dead, and 21 wounded, after suspects opened fire at a state-run facility for […] Read On
February 20, 2016
Potential Consequences of Getting a DWI in New York City Driving while intoxicated in New York City is a serious offense that could result in numerous legal and personal consequences. For instance, you may be required to spend time in jail or pay a mandatory fine whether or not you have been convicted of this crime before. You could also lose your drivers license, which could make it harder to live a normal life. Legal […] Read On