Lawyer’s Corner

The March 2018 NACDL Champion magazine has interesting information.

GUANTANAMO.    A news article relates that roughly 780 individuals have been detained at this facility since 2002.

POSTPARTUM DISORDERS.  A new hope for defenders – post-partum depression and/or psychosis. The condition is described as being far more serious than “baby blues.”  Supposedly, postpartum depression affects one in seven new mothers – roughly 800,000 American women annually.  A new Illinois statute recognizes the condition as partial justification for criminal conduct, on both findings and sentence.

SHOTSPOTTER.  A new technology claims it can detect when a gun is being discharged through a system of rooftop microphones, particularly used in high crime areas.  A short article cautions that the new technology is far from reliable.

BORDER SEARCHES.  Border searches are a recognized exemption to the Fourth amendment.  The problem arises because of the Homeland Security practice of warrantless searches of laptops and computers at the US border.   Riley v. California is a recent unanimous Supreme Court decision holding that a warrant is required to search a cell phone seized incident to arrest.  But do the same considerations apply at US national borders?  The law is in flux at the moment, the article concludes.