Protecting Your Rights Throughout Eastern Iowa Since 1981
The criminal justice system contains many disincentives to commit a crime. There is the potential embarrassment with being arrested by the police, spending time in jail, obtaining bail, going through a trial or plea bargain, and if convicted, spending additional time...
An Iowa paper reports that the leading cause of arrests in the county immediately south of Des Moines is drugs. They identify drugs or alcohol as the reason for 22 of 29 arrests in the county. The police chief of Carlisle reported that almost one-third of all of the...
Statutory definitions can be very specific or vague, depending on the whim of the legislature. Of course, they cannot be too vague, as that can lead to their being found unconstitutional because of that vagueness. For a law to be meaningfully applied to a person, they...
Last year, a report by an Iowa newspaper found issues with the way in which some law enforcement agencies throughout the state were using the criminal forfeiture laws. In some cases, police departments and sheriff's offices were using forfeiture laws as a means of...
If you have been arrested by the police, or if you are merely part of an investigation, the police are likely to interrogate you. They may tell you that they would like you to come down to the police station and talk, or they may bring you into custody and engage in a...
This session of the Iowa legislature will consider issues involving criminal justice reform. Changes to the criminal justice system are always controversial and subject to a wide variety of opinions within the legislature. This year, they are expected to consider...
People from all over the world come to Iowa to attend school. Whether they go to a large university or small college, the fact is that young students experience some considerable challenges when they are away from home. In addition to the stress and anxiety of...
Drugs like heroin are causing an epidemic of deaths throughout the U.S., and some states have enacted laws that make it easier to prevent these overdose deaths by making antidotes like naloxone available while protecting those who help from the severe penalties...
In recent years, there has been much discussion regarding the effect of mandatory minimum prison sentences. The use of mandatory minimums have been one of the reasons the number of inmates in federal prisons has exploded, from 24,000 in 1980 to the current population...
Criminal law is full of stereotypes. Many people believe that there is a "criminal type." And that anyone who fits that description, must be guilty of the crimes they are accused. In the 19th century, the study of the shapes of human heads called phrenology, which...
