• Judge chides Montgomery County, Md. police for “unlawful invasion” of family’s home [my new Free State Notes post]
• As more offenses get redefined as “trafficking,” state extends its powers of surveillance and punishment [Alison Somin on pioneering Gail Heriot dissent in U.S. Commission for Civil Rights report; Elizabeth Nolan Brown/Reason on legislative proposals from Sens. Portman and Feinstein] Proposal in Washington legislature would empower police to seize/forfeit cars of those arrested for soliciting prostitutes, whether or not ever convicted [Seattle Times]
• Progressives and the prison state: “most of the intellectual and legal scaffolding of the contemporary American carceral system was erected by Democrats.” [Thaddeus Russell reviewing new Naomi Murakawa book The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America]
• Here comes the next verbal conflation with negative implications for defendants’ rights, “traffic violence” [Scott Greenfield]
• Please don’t pay attention to what goes on inside Florida prisons, it would only spoil your day [Fred Grimm, Miami Herald via Radley Balko]
• Trouble in California: “U.S. judges see ‘epidemic’ of prosecutorial misconduct in state” [L.A. Times, Ronald Collins/Concurring Opinions, video from Baca v. Adams with Judges Kozinski, Wardlaw, W. Fletcher, earlier on California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Moonlight Fire case] But will Ninth Circuit’s strong words change anything? [Scott Greenfield including updates]
• “Plea Bargaining and the Innocent: It’s up to judges to restore balance” [U.S. District Judge John Kane]

Filed under: California, crime and punishment, Florida, Kamala Harris, Maryland, Ninth Circuit, prisoners, prosecutorial abuse, traffic laws, trafficking, Washington state