Monday, November 13, 2006

Around the Blogs 11-13-06

Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy had some serious time on his hands this weekend, and he put it to good use. Here he links to an article on the poor efforts of OH to restrict drunk drivers, especially when compared to efforts currently in places like NM (while raising again the extremely valid question of why we're so hard on druggie types but don't deal with alcohol the same way). Here he cites an LA Times op-ed by one of the authors of the idiot crack-powder distinction in the federal guidelines who is now admitting what a horrendous mistake that was. And here is a nice technocorrections piece on GPS tracking of sex offenders that hits the major arguments on both sides but still manages, IMO, to mislead regarding the viability of effectiveness at this point. Still, more proof of where we're heading, whether we're helping to steer the car or not. (See also Crime and Consequences on this.) . . . Speaking of technocorrections, this time the pharmaceutical side, here's a good write-up on the questionable business history of one of the current pushers of the new "this drug will cure addictions" solution, courtesy of Real Cost of Prisons. . . . Crim Prof Blog has a notice of a conference on psychology and testimony, particularly the eyewitness type. And if you ever needed convincing of why our certainty as eyewitnesses and reliance on their testimony is so misguided, go to Crim Law and see if your eyes are as bad as mine, or your mind as boggled. How have we ever let this kind of testimony gain the prominence that it has?

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