Criminal Vehicular Operation

Criminal Vehicular Operation in the United States

Criminal Law Classical Online Resources

Although courts and politicians have tweaked our basic rights in criminal law proceedings during the past 200-plus years, it is inspiring to return occasionally to our legal roots. Four of the first ten amendments to the Constitution http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/bor.html) provide us with essential guarantees of due process and protections against prosecutorial abuse. The Fourth Amendment (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/) bars unreasonable searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/Constitution/amendment05/) prohibits forced self-incrimination, the Sixth Amendment(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment06/) guarantees the right in a criminal case to a speedy jury trial, and the Eighth Amendment (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment08/) bars excessive bail and fines and cruel or unusual punishment. Findlaw provides the best presentation of each of these amendments because they come with extensive hyperlinked annotations.

Then there’s the U.S. Code. If you deal with military justice, see Title 10 Armed Forces, Chapter 47, Uniform Code of Military Justice (www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/ch47.html) and Chapter 48, Military Correctional Facilities (www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/10/ch48.html). For the rest of you, Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure (www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/) spells it all out, while counsel for the younger segment of society should turn to Title 42 Public Health and Welfare, Chapter 72, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/ch72.html).

Another stop on this road is the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28 Judicial Administration (www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr/28cfr.htm#start), which includes Chapter 1, Department of Justice (www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr/28cfrI.htm#start)Chapter 3, Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr/28cfrIII.htm#start); Chapter 5, Bureau of Prisons. (www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr/28cfrV.htm#start); and Chapters 6 (www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr/28cfrVI.htm# start) and 7 (www4.law.cornell.edu/cfr/28cfrVII.htm#start), Office of Independent Counsel.

We’ll get to federal agencies, but as long as we’re discussing law, we need to point to the California Penal and Evidence Codes (www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html). Click the box next to either code title, then click the Search button near the bottom of the page, or enter keywords in the search box. The latter method, however, gets results that may be in other code sections.

Staying local for a moment, the state attorney general’s site (http://caag.state.ca.us/) won’t necessarily help your clients, but it will tell you where the state is placing its resources. The California District Attorneys site (www.co.eaton.mi.us/ecpa/PA-West.htm#CA) may give you an even better idea about what the authorities are pursuing, although the amount of information varies wildly. Generally, you can depend on getting the telephone numbers and addresses to DA offices around the state.

For counsel who deal with bread-and-butter criminal cases, Pass Your Drug Test (www.passyourdrugtest.com/) outlines the marijuana laws for all 50 states (www.passyourdrugtest.com/mjlaws.htm), while Mothers Against Drunk Driving, known as MADD (www.madd.org/), offers a comprehensive statistics page (www.madd.org/stats/default.shtml) regarding DUIs and related data, including distinctions for African-American (www.madd.org/stats/africanamerican.shtml), Asian-American (www.madd.org/stats/asianamerican.shtml), and Hispanic-American (www.madd.org/stats/Stat_hispanics.shtml) drivers.

Should you need data to bolster your case, there are more relevant government agency sites than we can mention here, so we’ll direct you to the ones with the most practical value. At the top is the U.S. Department of Justice site (www.usdoj.gov/). At first glance, you might wonder why I recommend this one, given how ugly and generic it seems. But look closely and you’ll see links to reports, manuals, documents, and a range of topics from consumer fraud to crime victims. One example: By clicking Prison & Parole Information (www.usdoj.gov/prisoninfo.htm) you land in a drawer with everything you want to know about the topic neatly placed and ready for you, including Federal Prison Facilities (www.bop.gov/facilnot.html#fac), State Prisons (www.corrections.com/links/facilities.html), County Sheriff Departments and Jails (www.corrections.com/links/county.html), and other links.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons site (www.bop.gov/) gives you focused details, while the U.S. Parole Commission site (www.usdoj.gov/uspc/) recaps its guidelines. The U.S. Sentencing Commission site (www.ussc.gov/) will give you more than you’ll ever want to know about why your clients are incarcerated so long.

Top Online Resources include:

  • ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
  • uncjin.org/ (U.N. Crime and Justice Information Network)
  • nvc.org/stats/main.htm (National Victim Center Statistics)

Resources

See Also

  • Criminal Justice Information System
  • Criminal Proceedings
  • Criminal Defamation
  • Criminal Forfeitures
  • Criminal Sexual Conduct
  • Criminal Apprehension Bureau
  • Criminal History Checks
  • Criminal Negligence
  • Criminal Alert Network Crimnet
  • Criminal Justice Data Communications Network
  • Code Of Criminal Procedure
  • Criminal Conspiracy
  • Expungement Of Criminal Records
  • Bureau Of Criminal Apprehension
  • Creditors

Further Reading


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