You’re driving down the road and see the flashing red and blue lights behind you. You don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. Maybe your taillight is out. You pull over to the side of the road, and when the officer approaches your vehicle they ask if you’ve had...
You might know that pointing a firearm at a person is a crime. However, did you also know that making a gun hand gesture with your forefinger and thumb could also result in criminal charges? It may seem a little absurd that pointing a “finger gun” at another person...
After being convicted of a criminal offense, the judge might put you on probation – either as the primary form of punishment or as a penalty following a jail or prison sentence. Probation is a form of supervised release granted instead of serving time in prison, and...
Although driving under the influence of a controlled substance has long been part of many state’s DUI laws, the legalization of medicinal and/or recreational use of marijuana in various parts of the country has brought about new questions. Specifically, people are...
Sometimes a person falls on hard times and might take an object or two from a store to make it through the day. The items might not cost a lot of money – a $3.00 loaf of bread or a $6.00 package of socks – but the consequences of taking something without paying for it...
In July of 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a DUI defendant’s refusal to submit to a blood draw can be presented as evidence at trial. In May of 2015, a Pennsylvania man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. When taken to the...
In Pennsylvania, a judge ruled that officers acted unreasonably when they searched a vehicle in which they smelled drugs even after the passenger showed them his medical marijuana card. Background of the Case In November of 2017, a man and his wife were pulled over by...
In 2018, Mission LISA and Health In Justice Action Lab partnered to conduct a study focused on understanding the country’s prosecution of drug-induced homicide cases. Their research used artificial intelligence and data analysts to cull through news and media articles...
On June 28, 2019, Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate law went into effect. Provisions under this landmark piece of legislation allow for around 30 million criminal cases to be automatically sealed. The bill, which was passed with a near-unanimous vote last year, was...
Seeing the flashing lights of a police car behind you can be a panic-inducing experience. Under stress, you might not be sure of what to do, and instead of pulling over, you continue to drive while you try to figure out how to respond to the situation. Unfortunately,...
