From Around the Internet

Bail Reform

Two recent studies point to the dangerous, and predictable, results from bail reform. You can read about the study on Chicago’s bail reform by clicking here and the study on California bail reform by clicking here. Both highlight the need for bail reform efforts to take dangerousness seriously, and allow to judges the ability to detain dangerous criminals without bail. Following Indiana’s Court-led bail reform efforts, the Indiana General Assembly is taking up this session a resolution to amend the Indiana Constitution to allow pre-trial detention without the right to bail for certain violent offenders. You can read the text of that proposal by clicking here.

Big Tech

The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments this week in two cases impacting tech companies. The Plaintiffs are attacking section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which shields technology companies from liability for items posted on their communications platforms. In short, the law intends to protect “publishers” but not “editors” of content. The Plaintiffs now have evidence of censorship and curration of content, moving the tech compainies closer to editors, and therefore closer to liability. You can read more about it here.

Non-Compliant Prosecutors

The Missouri Attorney General is poised to initiate proceedings to remove the elected prosecutor in St. Louis. The AG and others allege that the prosecutor is neglecting her constitutional duties by failing to prosecute whole categories of cases. This issue has arisen around the country with the election over the last few years of progressive, reform-minded prosecutors, mostly in urban areas. These issues have spilled over to judges. The action against the St. Louis prosecutor resulted most immediately from a case where a man drove his car into a teenage girl, injuring her to the extent that she lost her legs. The man, out of jail on pre-trial release on an armed robbery charge, had violated his GPS monitoring 40 times. The proseutor never moved to revoke his bail. The prosecutor alleges that the Court should have revoked the bail sua sponte.

The Indiana General Assembly has made several attempts at legislation allowing the removal of non-compliant prosecutors, but to date nothing has passed. You can read more about the missouri case here.