Federal appeals court ruled inmate strip searches constitutional
February 9, 2012
On February 9, 2010, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling upholding the constitutionality of strip searching incoming inmates. The court found that strip searches are reasonable, considering both the nature of the US prison system and the documented evidence of illegal mater....... [more] 
Italy appeals court orders release of former Guantanamo detainee
February 7, 2012
The Court of Appeals in Milan on Monday announced that they will overturn a lower court's verdict on Tunisian former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamed Riadh Ben Nasri. Nasri was convicted of terrorism association two years ago, after he was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to stand trial in Italy. He....... [more]
Haiti officials charged 10 Americans with kidnapping children
February 4, 2012
On February 4, 2010, Haitian authorities charged ten US citizens with kidnapping 33 Hatian children. In January 2010, they were arrested while attempting to transport the children across the Haitian border into the Dominican Republic. The Americans were associated with the Idaho-based group, New Lif....... [more]
A Case for Moving Away From the Death Penalty
February 2, 2012
JURIST Guest Columnist Crystal Whalen, Texas Tech University School of Law Class of 2012, is a student attorney at the Regional Public Defender's Office for Capital Cases in Lubbock, Texas. She argues in favor of moving away from the death penalty and makes a case for its unconstitutionality...As Am....... [more]
UK men plead guilty to London Stock Exchange terror plot
February 1, 2012
Four British men pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting an al Qaeda inspired attack against the London Stock Exchange (LSE). In December 2010, nine men who met through radical Islamist groups were charged and taken into custody in the UK for conspiring to bomb the US Embassy and the LSE. When the plo....... [more]
Pakistan court ordered US government worker held on murder charges
February 1, 2012
On February 1, 2011, a judge for the Lahore High Court in Pakistan ordered that US consulate worker Raymond Davis be held in custody for the murder of two men in Pakistan. The order came over US objections that Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity. Davis and US embassy officials claimed that Davis shot....... [more]
HRW concerned over aging US prison population
January 30, 2012
Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern Friday over aging men and women becoming the most rapidly growing group in US prisons and the ability of officials to provide appropriate housing and medical care to these individuals. The report, "Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United....... [more]
Federal appeals court reinstated Padilla conspiracy charge
January 30, 2012
On January 30, 2007, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reinstated a conspiracy charge against alleged terrorist Jose Padilla, reversing a lower court decision that the charge duplicated two other counts against Padilla and his co-defendants. The Eleventh Circuit rejected the argument....... [more]
Minnesota high court upholds mandatory DNA samples from convicted criminals
January 26, 2012
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Minnesota statute requiring people convicted of crimes to submit a DNA sample does not violate the Fourth Amendment right to unreasonable search. The Minnesota law, which was enacted in 2010, requires an offender to submit a DNA test, upon sentenci....... [more]
Federal court rules Montana medical marijuana law does not shield providers from federal prosecution
January 25, 2012
A federal judge in the US District Court for the District of Montana on Friday ruled that the state's medical marijuana law does not protect providers of the drug from federal prosecution. Judge Donald Molloy dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by 14 medical marijuana providers who had all been raided....... [more]
Federal judge sentenced ex-Guantanamo detainee to life imprisonment
January 25, 2012
On January 25, 2010, a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, to life in prison for his role in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Judge Lewis Kaplan had previously issued a rulin....... [more]
Final marine tried in Haditha killings pleads guilty
January 24, 2012
US Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich pleaded guilty Monday to the charge of negligent dereliction of duty, ending the final court-martial resulting from a five-year investigation into the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians. Wuterich was charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endan....... [more]
Suspect in 1964 Mississippi civil rights killings arrested
January 24, 2012
On January 24, 2007, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested a Mississippi man for the 1964 deaths of two black men in a reopened civil rights-era case. Ex-KKK member James Ford Seale was originally arrested in 1964 on suspicion of kidnapping Henry Dee and Charles Moore, who were later found dea....... [more]
Peru appeals court upheld release of US woman convicted of rebel involvement
January 24, 2012
On January 24, 2011, a Peruvian appeals court announced it had rejected the government's petition to overturn a lower court's decision to grant parole to Lori Berenson — a US citizen held since 1995 for collaboration with the Marxist rebel organization, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement ....... [more]
US House voted to strip felon lawmakers of pensions
January 23, 2012
On January 23, 2007, the US House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to deny retirement pensions to any member of Congress "convicted of any of certain offenses," including fraud, bribery and perjury. Prior to the adoption of HR 476, federal lawmakers could only be stripped of their benefi....... [more]
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