The generally conservative and pro-legalization Economist reports: The evidence from Portugal since 2001 is that decriminalisation of drug use and possession has benefits and no harmful side-effects. … IN 2001 newspapers around the world carried graphic reports of addicts injecting heroin in the grimy streets of a Lisbon slum. The place was dubbed Europe’s “most…
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In November I’m speaking at a conference in Leeds, UK, on The Wire (the HBO TV show). I need a title for my presentation. I can’t think of anything. Of course I have no idea what I’m going to say yet. But I still need a title. Anybody out there have any good idea for…
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I love Maryland crabs. Even more than I love Maryland venison. And I do love eating the deer. But I think steamed blue crab may be the most delicious food in the world. Last night my friend cooked a true Maryland-inspired crab feast for twenty people. She’s gone down to Baltimore twice now for my…
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Nothing new here. But it’s good to have a refresher course every now and then. It’s too easy for prisoners to be out of sight and out of mind. (plus these are the neatest diagrams I’ve found in the subject) Now it’s 2,300,000 behind bars. The increase is all since 1970 and the war on…
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In June, Ford Motor Co. invited the heads of some of the nation’s largest police fleets to Dearborn to talk about the future of police cars. For nearly two decades, that market has belonged to Ford’s Crown Victoria — a vehicle that departments from coast to coast have come to respect for its toughness and…
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“One of the reasons we fought a bloody war against Britain was we didn’t like these soldiers stopping people on the street willy-nilly….We went to armed revolution against the strongest nation in the world in order to have these protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. They’re not technicalities. They’re real. … Indeed, the ability to…
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[He] was in the middle of a string of 17 robberies of city business in 22 days, police say. … [In 2005] Lomax was sentenced to 21 years in prison, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. When the case came back to court on June 22, Baltimore Circuit Judge John Addison Howard gave Lomax…
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The BBC reports that one crime was solved for every 1,000 police cameras in London last year. The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals. … David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: “It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is…
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Out of the blue (at least to me), the BBC reports: The supreme court in Argentina has ruled that it is unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption. … The Argentine court ruled that: “Each adult is free to make lifestyle decisions without the intervention of the state.” Supreme Court President Ricardo…
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An op-ed by Tony Newman in the New York Daily News. While New York has a reputation as a tolerant and open-minded city and New York State effectively decriminalized simple possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana more than 30 years ago, Gotham has made so many pot arrests that it now has the…
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