When law professor Sean Kammer’s friends told him they were skeptical about the seriousness of his upcoming course focused on Taylor Swift at the University of South Dakota, it was his chance to do what any Swiftie would do: Shake it off.

“I understand this sounds ridiculous, at least at first glance,” said Kammer, a self-avowed Swiftie. “But it’s not.”

Kammer’s course, The Taylor Swift Effect, planned for the spring semester looks to be the first law school class based on the sequined musical icon.

Continue reading “Taylor Swift headed to this law school, in theory” →

Over 1,000 people are killed by law enforcement each year in the United States. While the majority of those killings are deemed to be justified by oversight officials, many are not. Footage of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 sparked nationwide protests, calls for fundamental police reform, and increased scrutiny over the use of deadly force and other abuses of power.

From 2013 to through May 2023, a reported 11,706 people were killed by police officers – both on and off duty – in the United States, according to Mapping Police Violence, a research collaborative that collects data on police killings across the nation. Adjusting for population, this comes out to around 3.5 police killings for every 100,000 people. However, the number of police killings in the last 10 years varies considerably from state to state.

Continue reading “Ranking the States Based on Killings by Law Enforcement” →

As advocates representing poor people convicted of federal crimes, the overwhelming majority of whom are Black and Brown men, we have seen the ease with which harsh mandatory minimum sentences have become part of our criminal system.

For example, in 2008 at a federal courthouse in Fort Wayne, Indiana, our client Dion Walker received a mandatory life sentence for selling cocaine to a government informant. Because Walker had two prior convictions for nonviolent drug offenses, the judge had no choice but to sentence him to life in prison.

Highly controversial, this “three strikes” law represents the darkest excesses of our “tough on crime” approach to federal drug offenses.

Continue reading “First Step Act advanced prison reform, but hundreds are still serving unjust sentences” →

Iowa is tied for seventh among states with the highest disparities in Black incarceration rates, according to new analysis from the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative. Data released on September 27 show Black Iowans are about nine times more likely than whites to be in prison or jail, and Native Americans are about thirteen times more likely than whites to be incarcerated in Iowa.

Continue reading “Iowa still among worst states for racial disparities in incarceration” →

A massive data dump of 11 million criminal offenses reported to the FBI paints a complicated picture of crime in the United States, as well as South Dakota.

In 2022, violent crime overall, which includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, dropped modestly in the U.S. Violent crime was 1.7% lower in 2022 than in 2021, the FBI said.

The data, released Monday, shows South Dakota followed the national trend, with violent crime dropping as other types of crime increased in 2022.

Continue reading “Is crime going up in South Dakota? Some types are, new FBI data shows” →

Government regulators are seemingly as numerous as the stars nowadays, especially in the universe of data incidents. When organizations experience a data incident, they will need to quickly assess what happened, why it happened, and who (e.g., clients, consumers, vendors, employees) was affected. They will also need to chart a course by which they resolve the incident while limiting their legal exposure.

While they do so, they may attract the interest of regulators. As we discussed in part one of this series —”Data protection: One of these incidents is not like the other,” Reuters Legal News and Westlaw Today, Aug. 24, 2023 — regulators take particular interest in a data breach when it involves sensitive data, a large number of consumers, or a vulnerable consumer demographic, among other factors. But who are these regulators? Here are the regulators most likely to come calling.

Continue reading “Your organization has suffered a data incident: Now here are the regulators it will likely encounter” →

As wildfires and extreme temperatures rage across the planet, sea temperature records tumble and polar glaciers disappear, the scale and speed of the climate crisis is impossible to ignore. Scientific experts are unanimous that there needs to be an urgent clampdown on fossil fuel production, a major boost in renewable energy and support for communities to rapidly move towards a fairer, healthier and sustainable low-carbon future.

Many governments, however, seem to have different priorities. According to climate experts, senior figures at the UN and grassroots advocates contacted by the Guardian, some political leaders and law enforcement agencies around the world are instead launching a fierce crackdown on people trying to peacefully raise the alarm.

Continue reading “How criminalization is being used to silence climate activists across the world” →

Policing and criminal justice are two of the issues on the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The Republican and Democratic contenders differ over how they would handle public safety and criminals. Broadly speaking, Republicans want to increase punishments and policing to address crime while Democrats want to reform the system.

Continue reading “Where the 2024 presidential candidates stand on crime and criminal justice” →

In its first argument of the new term, the Supreme Court heard a case on Monday that explored a provision of a law aimed at reducing prison sentences for certain nonviolent drug crimes.

The case focused on part of the First Step Act, bipartisan legislation passed in 2018 aimed at rolling back tough sentencing laws that had caused the country’s prison population to balloon.

Continue reading “On First Day of New Term, Supreme Court Hears Debate Over First Step Act” →

South Dakota’s Department of Corrections maintains a list of their most wanted fugitives. These five individuals are all wanted for leaving work release programs. If you have any information on their whereabouts, please contact your local authorities.

The following list contains pictures and pertinent details regarding their identities and offenses. This information serves as a means to raise awareness and facilitate their swift capture to ensure public safety.

Continue reading “South Dakota Most Wanted: Walkaways and Parole Absconders” →