We have been following the growing protests over rapes in India this month. This includes a brutal gang rape on a city bus and an alleged rape of a victim by police officers. Now, a 17-year-old Indian girl who was gang-raped has committed suicide after she claimed that police pressured her to drop the case and marry one of her attackers.
Category: Criminal law
I have previously written about the criminalization of America as politicians turn every objectionable act into a crime. I have criticized this trend in columns (here and here) and numerous blogs on the criminalization of using artificial turf to growing vegetable gardens to eating french fries in the subway. Now owners of an old-fashioned soda shop in St. Paul, Minn. were threatened with fines and a misdemeanor citation unless they stopped selling novelty candy cigarettes. Lynden’s Soda Fountain was unaware that it was committing a crime by selling the long-common items.
Continue reading “Old Fashioned Soda Shop Threatened With Misdemeanor Over Sale Of Candy Cigarettes”
We have yet another case of a police shooting of a family dog. This case involved a particularly tragic
occurrence on Christmas Day. Kobi, a 70-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback mix was shot dead by a Chicago police officer. Chicago has previously appeared on these pages for dog shootings. The family says that the police opened the gate to the backyard where Kobi was being kept and then shot him when he came out. They were looking for a suspect. The police department insists that the officers acted appropriately.
As the government deals with ongoing scandal and protests over the gang rape of a student in New Delhi, another woman has come forward with an equally horrific account: she was allegedly raped by the police inspector after she went to report a rape. Maan Singh, a senior sub inspector (SSI) posted at Akbarpur police station in Ambedkar Nagar has now been arrested.
NBC is dealing with an unexpected legal problem after a segment by David Gregory, who displayed what he said was a high-capacity ammunition clip on “Meet the Press.” D.C. law prohibits the possession of high-capacity ammunition clips. This may have been a case where a picture — or consultation with counsel — might have been in order. There is no exception for the media in such possession cases.
The police in Toms River have an intriguing crime on their hands involving a mysterious woman, a chicken, and a diamond ring. A married man met a woman at a bar and took her home where he offered her some chicken and gave her $20. She gave him a piece of paper with her telephone number on it. However, after the man fell asleep, he woke to find the paper gone along with $55, his necklace, and his wife’s diamond ring.
Best wishes to everyone celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Continue reading “Merry Christmas!!!”
Women in Swaziland can now be arrested for wearing mini-skirts or cropped tops because they are responsible for provoking their own rapes. The government has announced that it will now enforce an 1889 law banning “immoral” dressing. Of course, the same week an Iowa court held that employers could fire attractive women who may be too great a temptation for them.
Continue reading “Swaziland Declares Women Who Wear Mini-Skirts Are Responsible For Their Own Rapes”
A Saudi court has ordered the editor of a Saudi Arabian website to be tried for apostasy, and possibly executed, due to his criticism of the role of religion in the Saudi Kingdom. Raif Badawi, the founder of the Free Saudi Liberals website, was arrested in June and originally charged with insulting Islam. The court has now upgraded the charge to apostasy.
Continue reading “Saudi Editor Faces Death Penalty For Apostasy Due To Writings About Religion”
We previously discussed the lawsuit over what was described as a roadside cavity search conducted on two women by a Texas police officer in search of marijuana possession. The Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Kelly Helleson has now been suspended with pay as the police investigate the matter, which was caught on videotape. What I fail to understand is why, once again, nothing happened until the public rose up in anger over the absurd actions of the police. Moreover, there is no mention of the first officer who used the fact that Angel Hobbs, 38, had thrown a cigarette butt out of her window to interrogate the two women on possible pot use and then searched their car.
Continue reading “Texas Police Officer Suspended With Pay In Roadside “Cavity Search” Case”
There is a new disturbing video (below) showing police abuse this week. The video shows a Texas state trooper performing what was claimed to be a cavity search on the roadside on suspicion of possession of marijuana. It appears that while states like Colorado are legalizing marijuana, Texas is allegedly doing cavity searches to find someone in possession of weed. I guess it should be no surprise when you are driving on the George Bush Turnpike. The two women — Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece, Ashley Dobbs, 24 — subject to the humiliating search are now suing the police.
We have another horrific gang rape committed overseas by men who claim to be teaching a woman good morals. The physiotherapy student was attacked on a city bus in Delhi after watching a movie with a male friend. Six drunk men got on the bus and reportedly attacked the woman for being out at night with a man and decided to “teach her a lesson” by beating them both and repeatedly raping the woman. The rape and beating was so severe that the woman is on a ventilator and her intestines were so severely ruptured that doctors had to remove them to prevent gangrene.
Continue reading “Brutal Rape Prompts Calls For Indian Government To Address Violence Against Women”
Police in Parker County are looking for this woman for a truly seasonal crime: she was caught on a security camera stealing the wreath and Christmas lights of a private home.
There is an interesting and tragic case out of Northern Illinois University in Dekalb where 22 members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity have been criminally charged in the death of student David Bogenberger, 19, after a frat event with excessive drinking. It is one of the largest such prosecutions, if not the largest, that I have seen for a hazing or frat drinking death. The question is whether this is a matter that should be addressed on the criminal opposed to the civil docket as well as school proceedings for expulsion.
We have previously discussed the curious definition of prostitution in this country. Many libertarians and others believe that consenting adults should be able to consent to such arrangements. My long-standing interest is the legal definition (and fairness) of the criminal code in defining prostitution. If someone agrees to have sex for money, they are arrested as a prostitute. However, if you accept money to have sex with multiple people in a porn movie, you are an actress. Now, Cheryl Cohen Greene, a 68-year-old grandmother and cancer survivor, adds another possible exception. She is a “sexual surrogate” who works with men who are sick or disabled in ‘sexual therapy.’