Monthly Archive: February 2021
by Bill Otis · Feb 1, 2021 4:23 pm
The highest court in Maryland, the state Court of Appeals, has outlawed jury nullification in the most forceful terms I can remember seeing. This is the right result. Jury nullification is simply inconsistent with any intelligible concept of law. One of the main functions we want law to do is to let citizens know what the rules are. If we are to have, on a completely ad hoc basis, different rules depending on which jury you happen to draw (i.e., crack is legal in one jury’s mind but still illegal in the mind of the jury across the hall, or the age of consent is 13 in one jury’s mind but 17 in the mind of the jury across the hall), then whatever you have, it’s not law.
Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · Feb 1, 2021 1:56 pm
It is no longer a misdemeanor to possess heroin, crack, fentanyl or LSD in the state of Oregon. Paul Best of Fox News reports that the state’s Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, adopted last November, which takes effect today, essentially makes the possession of small amounts of even the most dangerous drugs an infraction, punishable by referral to treatment. More than 100 organizations endorsed the measure. Proponents cite studies of Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which decriminalized hard drugs years ago without dramatic negative effects other than increased drug use. If drug use is no longer punishable in Oregon, yet dealing drugs remains illegal, will drug dealing become more and less profitable as drug use increases? Under the new law, drug users will be connected with the services they need at Addiction Recover Centers. The new law provides no consequences for addicts who do not show up for evaluation or treatment.
by Bill Otis · Feb 1, 2021 12:46 pm
A number of people have asked if I have a written-down copy of my opening statement in my plea bargaining debate with Clark Neily of Cato, sponsored by the Arizona State student chapter of the Federalist Society. As it happens, I do. It follows the break. Continue reading . . .
by Bill Otis · Feb 1, 2021 11:07 am
My longtime friend, former colleague in the USAO, former US District Judge, and now distinguished law professor Paul Cassell takes a look. He concludes, “While a new report released today by the Council on Criminal Justice downplays the role anti-police protests played in last year’s unprecedented homicide spike, a decline in pro-active policing following the protests remains the most likely cause.”
Full disclosure: I am a member of the Council on Criminal Justice (as I believe is Paul), but we’re in the small minority favoring the sober Reagan/Bush/Bill Clinton approach to crime. The Council’s Report is here.
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