Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, criminal defendants have been the subject of a national experiment. As schools and businesses moved online to protect people from the virus, court systems also instituted a host of emergency measures to conduct court proceedings remotely. Three years later, significant questions about what this virtual transition means for the state constitutional rights of defendants remain unanswered.

While courts had previously experimented with remote technology in narrow contexts, such as immigration proceedings and bail hearings, the pandemic forced them to embrace virtual proceedings at nearly every juncture of the criminal justice system. Suddenly, the arraignments, detention hearings, suppression hearings, plea hearings, jury selections, sentencings, and witness testimony that once took place inside the four walls of a courtroom were relocated to the four sides of a computer screen or a smartphone.

Continue reading “Remote Court Three Years Later” →

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The right to counsel was established 60 years ago last month in the landmark Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright. The persistent failure to honor that right calls into question the legitimacy of our entire criminal justice system.

In the years since the decision, states have created indigent defense delivery systems staffed by public defenders — attorneys who work full time defending poor people accused of crimes — and by assigned counsel — private attorneys who agree to accept criminal cases assigned to them by the court. With its Gideon decision, the Supreme Court found that counsel is a necessity, not a luxury, but state legislatures have spent as little as possible on the defense of individuals accused of a crime.

Continue reading “Without the right to adequate counsel, is our criminal justice system legitimate?” →

All U.S. citizens have a right to an attorney when charged with a crime, even if they can’t afford one. Only 11 states, including South Dakota, use local rather than state dollars to pay for the vast majority of public defense.

Just one state relies more heavily on counties to pay the cost than South Dakota, and that state – Pennsylvania – is now considering a five-year, $50 million investment in public defense.

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Television crime dramas are compelling to audiences because they deal not just with crimes themselves but also with issues of justice and equality and with fascinating characters. Traditionally, these shows follow those who try to solve the crimes, though in recent years, fans have also liked shows that center on the perpetrators. (These are the most evil TV villains of all time.)

Continue reading “Best Crime Shows of All Time, According to Data” →

Recently, law enforcement officials within South Dakota have said violent crimes are continually being committed by repeat offenders who have lengthy criminal records or are out on parole.

This issue is something the Sioux Falls Police Department is dedicated to combatting through a new unit of detectives.

Making the decision to report a violent crime that happened to you isn’t always easy.

“Many victims, their motivation for following through on prosecuting or reporting a crime is to prevent this from happening to someone else,” Michelle Trent, executive director of the Compass Center, said.

Continue reading “Violent crime unit added to Sioux Falls Police Department” →

It’s clear that cybercrime is one of the world’s most lucrative illicit industries – possibly taking the top spot. Threat actors are getting more meticulous and inventive in their ploys, even reviving outdated and long-forgotten techniques, thanks to their own brand of Key Performance Indicators linked to return on investment. After all, if a successful remake of an old classic can generate new revenue, producers will embrace it.

Many of the most successful cybercriminals are shrewd; they want good ROI, but they don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel to get it. That’s one reason they are leveraging existing infrastructure and older threats to maximize opportunity. As a security professional, you need to know what attackers are up to so you can focus your resources appropriately.

Continue reading “Malware Trends: What’s Old Is Still New” →

A new South Dakota law makes it harder to file a nuisance complaint or lawsuit against an agricultural operation and limits the amount of money that can be awarded.

Gov. Kristi Noem signed the bill Wednesday at a farm implement dealership in Mitchell, after legislators approved it earlier this winter. The law will go into effect July 1.

Noem said it’s about protecting farmers from frivolous lawsuits.

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St. Patrick’s Day brings people out to party, but when out celebrating law enforcement wants you to be safe.

Overall, in the U.S. every 45 minutes someone loses their life to a drunk driving crash which is about 32 people per day, according to the CDC. According to AWJ law, there are on average 300 car crashes on St. Patrick’s Day alone.

If you do decide to go out, there should be a game plan on who stays sober.

Continue reading “Forbes ranks South Dakota fifth with the drunkest drivers” →

It’s well-known that federal mandatory minimums result in disproportionate and inflexible prison sentences. These penalties are especially notorious in drug cases, where they’ve contributed significantly to racial disparities in prison. What may be surprising, though, is that many of these sentences continue even after the underlying laws are repealed.

When Congress changes the penalty for a given crime, it doesn’t automatically benefit people already serving time in prison for that offense. Congress must specifically make the change retroactive — which some lawmakers hesitate to do. The result is that hundreds, maybe even thousands of people are in federal prison today serving severe sentences that Congress no longer believes are fair or effective.

A 2022 Supreme Court decision — Concepcion v. United States — raised hope for expanded relief for those still in prison under now-repudiated federal penalties. Instead, there remains a deep disagreement among federal courts over how, if at all, to weigh nonretroactive changes to federal penalties when revisiting a prison sentence. The full contours of the decision’s impact will become clearer with time, but ultimately, correcting unjust and now disavowed sentencing laws will likely require a more comprehensive approach.

In 2009, Carlos Concepcion was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison under a harsh law, no longer in effect, for people convicted of crack cocaine distribution. That law — the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 — required that such offenses would be punished as severely as those involving 100 times as much powder cocaine. This penalty structure ultimately drove deep racial disparities in prison and catalyzed a campaign for reform. Then, in 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced this controversial and unjustified weight ratio to 18-to-1 on a forward-looking basis. Eight years later, Congress passed the First Step Act, which (among other things) finally allowed people sentenced for crack cocaine distribution before the Fair Sentencing Act to apply for a shorter prison term under the 18-to-1 rubric.

In 2019, Concepcion petitioned for a sentence reduction under the relevant part of the First Step Act, Section 404. In opposing his request, the government argued to the federal district court that the original sentence still fell within the upper limits of the new allowable sentencing range. But Concepcion also argued that he no longer qualified as a “career offender,” a status that had greatly increased his initial sentence. One of his prior state-level convictions had been vacated, and subsequent nonretroactive changes in federal sentencing law meant his other convictions would no longer trigger the career offender “enhancement.” Without this designation, Concepcion argued to the district judge, his sentence should be significantly lower: somewhere around five to six years.

You can read the full article at The Atlantic.