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Crime and Consequences Blog

• News Scan
  DNA Testing of Arrestees Moving Though Wis. Legislature:   Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's proposal to require DNA testing of anyone arrested for a felony passed out of a key committee Thursday.  AP writer Todd Richmond reports that if adopted, the law...
  
  
• Waving and Waiving the Fifth Amendment
  Matthew Huisman has this article in the NLJ (free reg. required):When Lois Lerner of the Internal Revenue Service invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before a House committee on Wednesday, she did so after making a brief statement. Those...
  
  
• Kids-For-Cash Conviction Affirmed (Mostly)
  The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit today affirmed, with one exception, the conviction of a corrupt former Pennsylvania judge in United States v. Ciavarella, No. 11-3277.  Mark Scolforo has this story for AP.  From the opinion:The charges...
  
  
• Srinivasan Confirmed to D.C. Circuit
  Todd Ruger reports for the NLJ (free registration required):The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Sri Srinivasan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Thursday, making him President Obama's first successful nomination to the court and the first...
  
  
• More on Recess Appointments
  Standard operating procedure in the U.S. Supreme Court is that the party who lost in the lower court asks the Court to take the case, and the party who prevailed there files a "brief in opposition" telling the Court why...
  
  
• Controversial Evidence in the Zimmerman Trial
  Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner report for the Orlando Sentinel:The evidence that George Zimmerman's attorneys have uncovered on Trayvon Martin's cell phone paints a troubling picture of the Miami Gardens teenager: He sent text messages about being a fighter, smoking...
  
  
• Anthony Weiner Still Has A Problem With Photos
  Off topic but funny....
  
  
• News Scan
  Governor Blocks Execution:  Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced Wednesday that he will not allow the execution of condemned murderer Nathan Dunlap so long as he is in office, as reported in this ABC news story.  In 1993, Dunlap murdered four...
  
  
• The Arias Trial and Jury Unanimity
  Brian Skoloff and Josh Hoffner report for AP:Jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial resume deliberations Thursday after they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or death for killing her...
  
  
• Does Marijuana Help with Feelings of Social Exclusion?
  Not really. The discovery of cannabinoid receptors was fairly recent.  Undoubtedly, sometime down the road therapeutic uses of drugs that act on those receptors will be discovered.  But we're not there yet and even when we get there the prescription...