The Fourth Amendment protects our homes against unreasonable searches. So, in summary, your rights stand unless an officer has a warrant based on probable cause. But what happens if an officer enters your home without one?
Do inmates have the right not to snitch?
"Snitches gets stitches." It's principle number one of the renowned law of honor among thieves. Back in 2010, Mark Burns said that a can fell from a high shelf and cut his face while working in the New York prion's commissary.
After immediately reporting the incident, prison officials approached Burns and not only asked him to snitch on his fellow inmates, but to provide false information about another guard. After refusing to become an informant for prison officials, they placed Burns into "involuntary protective custody."
How does probation differ from parole?
Probation and parole both start with the letter "p," but there are more similarities still. One in 31 U.S. adults are behind bars, or on parole or probation. A judge might decide that probation is a good starting option for you. Or, a parole board might see it fit to grant you parole. For someone convicted of a crime, good behavior could be their ticket to less time behind bars. But which happens when, and what's the difference?
Exoneration for the wrongfully convicted
Imagine losing 31 years of your life to occupying a small jail cell under a false criminal conviction. This happened in 1978, after an innocent man was powerless to offer verifiable evidence against charges of burglary and rape. As a result, the Tennessee resident began his 31 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
Only recently were his charges overturned and his innocence formally acknowledged. He walked out of prison a 61-year-old man with an exoneration award of $1 million dollars. It was a tough journey for family, friends and lawyers fighting for him, but they did it. He is just one out of the many wrongfully convicted who are at the mercy of the legal system for correcting their life-course and reputations.
What to know if you are charged with marijuana possession
The country's laws about marijuana are changing. States like Colorado and California have legalized the drug. Though Tennessee lawmakers have introduced bills that would legalize marijuana for medical use, no bills have become law. Marijuana is still illegal for recreational and medicinal use, and possessing and growing the drug is not legal either.
If you have been arrested for possession of marijuana, you should know what to expect and the potential consequences.
Absentee and hostile fathers can fuel criminal behavior
Nature versus nurture
Are kids a product of their genetic makeup or their environment? This is the question that lies at the crux of the nature versus nurture argument. Of course, many of those within the scientific community say that both a kid's upbringing and their genetic makeup affect their behavior, albeit in different ways. Now, this debate has been reignited after a recent study identified a correlation between paternal figures and juvenile delinquency in boys.
Involuntary manslaughter: An unintentional killing
Involuntary manslaughter charges occur when a person unintentionally causes the death of another person through reckless, unlawful or negligent behavior. Although not as severe as murder charges, the accidental killing of another person is still a criminal act.
The resulting death may have been an accident, but the risky actions and disregard for safety leading up to the death make the outcome a punishable crime.
What constitutes a domestic assault in Tennessee?
It's not always easy living with family members. Arguments break out, and -- depending on the household -- things can also get physical. In certain circumstances, police could interpret different types of altercations in the home to be domestic assault, and that can result in arrests and criminal allegations.
It's vital that every Tennessee resident understands what constitutes domestic assault, so that they can avoid committing it and also avoid becoming a victim of false domestic assault accusations.
Do you know your Fourth Amendment rights?
In the United States, we have certain rights that the Constitution grants to us. For example, we have specific rights under the Fourth Amendment that protect us from unlawful search and seizures. Unfortunately, you cannot depend on every single police officer to respect this right. This means that if a Memphis law enforcement officer violates your rights under the Fourth Amendment, then your attorney may be able to convince the court to drop any charges that resulted from the illegal search and seizure.
While the Fourth Amendment does protect from search and seizures the court might consider unreasonable, it does not mean that every search and seizure is illegal. The following information on the Fourth Amendment can help you understand more about your rights.
There is more than one type of robbery defense
There is no denying the severity of a robbery charge. If you find yourself in this position, it's up to you to do whatever possible to avoid a conviction and the punishment that comes along with it.
Fortunately, there is more than one type of robbery defense to consider. With the right approach, it may be possible to convince the jury that you did not commit the crime. Subsequently, you can walk away without any penalty.
