Legal and Legislative News

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The future of lying

BBC NEWS (UK)

by Chris Summers

January 14, 2005

Convicted sex offenders may undergo polygraph tests to put them off contacting children when they get out of prison.

Imagine the Pentagon equipped with a machine which can read minds. Sound like the plot of a Hollywood thriller' Well, it might not be that far away. The US Department of Defense has given Dr Jennifer Vendemia a $5m grant to work on her theory that by monitoring brainwaves she can detect whether someone is lying.

Government IDs and Identity Theft

Lew Rockwell

by Ron Paul - Before the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee

January 12, 2005

Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the Identity Theft Prevention Act. This act protects the American people from government-mandated uniform identifiers that facilitate private crime as well as the abuse of liberty.

The major provision of the Identity Theft Prevention Act halts the practice of using the Social Security number as an identifier by requiring the Social Security Administration to issue all Americans new Social Security numbers within five years after the enactment of the bill. These new numbers will be the sole legal property of the recipient, and the Social Security administration shall be forbidden to divulge the numbers for any purposes not related to Social Security administration. Social Security numbers issued before implementation of this bill shall no longer be considered valid federal identifiers.

Flunking the swab test

Boston Globe (MA)

by Eileen McNamara

January 9, 2005

Last week, law enforcement authorities began trawling for a break in the unsolved three-year-old slaying of Christa Worthington by seeking to test the DNA of men who live in Truro, the small town where the 46-year-old fashion writer was slain.

The aim of the ongoing mass saliva swabs is to trace semen found on Worthington's body. As Michael O'Keefe, the district attorney of the Cape and Islands, is quick to say, there is nothing illegal about such an indiscriminate approach to DNA testing, as long as the samples are surrendered voluntarily.

GAO Again Finds Fault With the Federal Books

The Washington Post

by Christopher Lee

December 21, 2004

Auditors Say That Government's Records Are So Inadequate They Cannot Be Evaluated, but Bush Official Cites Progress

The U.S. government's financial record-keeping is so inadequate that congressional auditors said last week that they could not determine whether the federal books meet generally accepted accounting principles.

Sensible Oversight for DNA Evidence

Red Nova News

December 20, 2004

A proposed revamp of the Virginia Division of Forensic Science, to be unveiled today by the State Crime Commission, reflects mounting calls for more independent scrutiny of the nations crime labs.

The Virginia lab, like many, is largely self-regulated. Too few judges, lawyers, and juries understand the science behind the use of DNA testing as a crime-fighting tool. Too many mistakenly regard it as unassailable and infallible.

Court refuses to expedite voucher lawsuit

The Florida Times-Union

December 20, 2004

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday refused to expedite the appeal over Florida's original voucher law.

Opponents to vouchers, who had challenged the constitutionality of the 1999 law, had asked the state's high court to try to resolve the case before the next school year.

Drug Policy Alliance: Heroin is Purest in the U.S., Again

Drug Policy

December 17, 2004

As the federal government continues to pour countless billions into the "war on drugs" the Drug Enforcement Administration has a problem.

"You can't buy any better heroin in the world than you can buy in New Jersey," says Michael Pasterchick, special agent in charge of the Newark DEA office.

San Francisco Considers Handgun Ban

Join Together

by Dick Dahl

December 17, 2004

Homicides have been increasing in San Francisco this year. Some city leaders think the answer is a handgun ban.

Five of San Francisco's 11 city supervisors have submitted a proposal, to be offered to city residents for vote in a ballot question next year, which would prohibit the ownership of handguns by everyone except law-enforcement officers, members of the military, or security personnel. It would also prohibit the sale, manufacture, and distribution of handguns.

Bid for handgun ban faces hurdles - S.F. measure's legal, practical obstacles

San Francisco Chronicle

by Suzanne Herel

December 17, 2004

San Francisco supervisors want to make the city the second in the nation to ban the ownership of handguns.

First, legal challenges are being readied by those who see the proposed law -- set to go to voters next fall -- as bucking state law, which says law-abiding citizens do not need permits or licenses to keep handguns in their homes.

Court rejects plea for organ harvesting

Outlook India

December 15, 2004

The Andhra Pradesh High Court today rejected a writ petition seeking to allow harvesting the organs of a patient suffering from incurable Muscular Dystrophy.

Organs can be harvested only from a brain dead patient and the law does not provide for transplanting organs from a person who is still alive.

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