A Peek Into the Criminal Mind

Last month news media reported that Luis Trinidad pulled up to a convenience store in Hartford in his burnt orange Cadillac and went inside, leaving his 2 year old son buckled in the back seat with the car running.  The police allege that Davon Mills drove off in the car with the boy still inside. When Mills was caught, he apparently, foolishly, failed to exercise his right to remain silent and offered an explanation to the police. However, his explanation was not the one you might have expected.  Instead of claiming that he made a mistake and did not know the boy was in the car, he claimed to have taken the car because he was upset that the boy's father left him in the car alone and, thereby, admitted to the mens rea element of kidnapping.

Click on the image below to view the news report:


Here is a print story on another criminal genius who posted an apology on his facebook page to the owners of the cars that he damaged while driving drunk and fleeing the scene.

Framingham, Massachusetts police responding to a complaint that some kids were egging a house arrived to discover the miscreants were Newton, Mass. police officers egging the home of their sergeant.

Can you spot the common thread running through these diverse events?

How Law Affects Real People...

... as portrayed by the Wall Street Journal.  The graphics below were printed in the WSJ ostensibly to make the effects of the recent tax legislation hit home. For instance, the single mom earning merely 7x the median income of a woman in the US will see a tax increase equal to her annual dry cleaning bill. The young single woman earning only 6x the US median will have to give up at least one designer suit purchase this year.  Hardest hit is the family with 4 kids struggling to survive with only 13x the median family income. Despite their $180,000 in investment income, they still have to work to get by. But they may have to downgrade their annual commuting vehicle purchase from the Mercedes SUV to the Lexus this year. (Look how they have to clutch their children to them to avoid the harsh critical stares from their private school classmates as they drive up to the school in that thing.)  And what about the elderly on fixed incomes? The retired couple with $52,000/year in investment income and another $130,000 from somewhere else can rest easy. The tax hike is zero. Papa can still afford a new dresser full of cotton sweaters to tie around his neck.

Image source: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/16/wsj_fiscal_cliff_infographic.html

Does Law Shape Society or Does Society Shape Law?

This quote from Dr. Martin Luther King., Jr.’s address to the Methodist Student Leadership Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1964 may be used to spark student consideration of the relationship between law and society:

But I must go on to give the other side, because I am convinced that those who say that legislation can’t deal with this issue happen to be uttering a half-truth. It may be true that you cannot legislate integration, but you can legislate desegregation. It may be true that morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law can’t change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law can’t make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me and I think that’s pretty important also. And so while the law may not be able to change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men. And when you begin to change the habits of men, pretty soon their attitudes will be changed and their hearts will be changed.

I wonder if these comments are relevant to the present gun control debate?

"But That's Not What Judge Judy Does!"

After lecturing on some civil procedure matters a student raised her hand and somewhat defiantly asserted the statement that comprises the title of this post. I laughed good-naturedly and then recognized the confusion evident from her expression. "Oh, my God," I thought, "she thinks the Judge Judy show is a broadcast of an actual courtroom!" How many other students believe that Judge Judy or The People's Court or Judge Joe Brown, etc. etc. are actual court proceedings instead of TV shows?

Judge Judy's opening segment says "The people are real! The cases are real! The rulings are final!"
This much is true.  But not because it is a court ruling.  The rulings are final because the litigants have dismissed their small claims cases in favor of an agreement to be bound by the outcome in the TV forum.  As explained at the People's Court website: 

"The People's Court," produced by Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions (the producers of the original series which ran for 12 years), draws on ordinary people who have filed grievances in civil court and have opted to have their cases heard and mediated by Judge Milian. An experienced team of researchers continually canvass courts across the country in search of the most compelling, unique and thought-provoking cases. Running the gamut from disputes between neighbors and family members, to dissatisfied customers suing businesses, Milian's decisions – based on current law – are final and binding.

Below is a video of the closing remarks form an early edition of The People's Court.  Following Doug Llewelyn's famous "You take 'em to court" phrase, is an explanation of the payment arrangements for participants.

Judge Judy closing credits.  At :31 is the written explanation, "Monetary awards are paid from a fund maintained by the producer."

Law Music Video: Work/Life Balance

This week's addition to the law Music Videos series is perhaps more business oriented that law oriented. The themes are obvious. Enjoy:

Busy, Busy, by Sandra Boynton recorded byKevin Klein
End of the Day, by Lucy Kaplansky
Richard Cory by Simon and Garfunkel

The New Liberty of Expression

News article over the past few weeks have crystallized a troubling development in the Liberty of Expression amplified by the internet. In the last few weeks, a movement of conspiracy theorists have come forward to claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings never took place. Their claim is that the government staged a vast media event with "crisis actors" in an effort to support a gun control agenda.  In addition to making these comments publicly for the media, conspiracy theorists have been directly contacting rescuers and victims of the tragedy with anonymous and hurtful comments.

In the "marketplace of ideas" theory, speech of little value will be shouted down and drowned out by criticism. But how do you drown out anonymous postings? The Liberty of Expression once carried the responsibility to face those who were critical of your expression. That responsibility has been removed by the internet's anonymity. The delicate balance between individual liberty of public comment and individual liberty to be let alone has been thrown out of kilter. Speech that is likely to result in imminent physical harm is not protected.  Yet, speech that is likely to result in imminent emotional harm is protected. In the Westboro Baptist Church case, the Supreme Court affirmed the right of protesters to express their views publicly no matter how repugnant or hurtful.  But physical protests can, and have been, controlled with appropriate time, place and manner restrictions to temper the damaging effects while allowing the expression.  How do we do this with anonymous postings on the internet?

Since this post was originally published, similar issues have arisen regarding harassment of the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting.

In a less tragic but similarly vexing incident, it appears that an autobiography of Michael Jackson has become the target of a coordinated internet attack by Jackson's fans.  The book's author and publisher are helpless to counter an avalanche of critical reviews posted by anonymous readers, sometimes including false and misleading information. In the past, when only journalists had the resources to publish reviews, reasonable journalistic standards provided protection against false statements. Now, it's a free for all with few rules.

How can the law respond to these and similar challenges?

I have declined to post videos here so as to avoid giving a further forum to the Sandy Hook deniers.  YouTube hosts dozens of these videos with more coming every day.

"Ethics Unwrapped" Videos from University of Texas

ALSB member Robert Prentice from UTexas shares with all of us a series of video ethics resource:

At the University of Texas' McCombs School of Business, we have produced some educational ethics videos that may be accessed and used FREE OF CHARGE.

These videos are available at Ethics Unwrapped.

We will add to the series from time to time as new videos are produced.  Currently, the focus of most of the videos posted is upon behavioral ethics.  They have generally been greeted with favorable responses.

Thanks for sharing!

Below is an example: "As Albus Dumbledore told Harry Potter, 'It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to your friends.'"