Abelian Splittings and JSJ-Decompositions of Bestvina--Brady Groups

We give a characterization of Bestvina--Brady groups split over abelian subgroups and describe a JSJ-decomposition of Bestvina--Brady groups.Comment: Fix the proof of Theorem 3.

Expanding Brady Background Checks To Internet Gun Sales In Oregon: Why Brady Background Checks Work And Why It's Time For Oregon To Finish The Job

A new Brady report shows how dangerous loopholes allow criminals to buy guns easily online without a background check. This report demonstrates why Brady background checks on gun purchases are an effective policy that prevents gun crime and saves lives by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people prohibited from owning guns. It also makes the case for why Oregon needs to pass legislation to close the "Internet loophole" by expanding Brady background checks to all gun sales. Every year, gun violence kills more than 400 Oregonians. From 2004 to 2013, more than 4,000 people were killed with guns. This means that, on average, somebody is killed in Oregon with a gun every 21 hours

Plea Bargaining in the Dark: The Duty to Disclose Exculpatory Brady Evidence During Plea Bargaining

Ninety-seven percent of federal convictions are the result of guilty pleas. Despite the criminal justice system’s reliance on plea bargaining, the law regarding the prosecution’s duty to disclose certain evidence during this stage of the judicial process is unsettled. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brady v. Maryland requires the prosecution to disclose evidence that establishes the defendant’s factual innocence during a trial. Some courts apply this rule during plea bargaining and require the disclosure of material exculpatory evidence before the entry of a guilty plea. Other courts have held or suggested that the prosecution may suppress exculpatory evidence during plea bargaining, forcing the defendant to negotiate and determine whether to accept a plea offer or proceed to trial without it. Substantial disparities therefore exist in the bargaining power and decision-making ability of criminal defendants, depending on where they are charged. This Note addresses the divide in how courts approach Brady challenges to guilty pleas. After analyzing the development of plea bargaining and the Brady rule, this Note concludes that a guilty plea is not valid if made without awareness of material exculpatory evidence possessed by the prosecution. To provide additional support for the recognition of pre–guilty plea exculpatory Brady rights, this Note presents a case study of two 2012 Supreme Court decisions establishing the right to effective assistance of counsel during plea bargaining, and argues that the same justifications for recognizing that right during plea bargaining apply to Brady as well

Plea Bargaining in the Dark: The Duty to Disclose Exculpatory Brady Evidence During Plea Bargaining

Ninety-seven percent of federal convictions are the result of guilty pleas. Despite the criminal justice system’s reliance on plea bargaining, the law regarding the prosecution’s duty to disclose certain evidence during this stage of the judicial process is unsettled. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brady v. Maryland requires the prosecution to disclose evidence that establishes the defendant’s factual innocence during a trial. Some courts apply this rule during plea bargaining and require the disclosure of material exculpatory evidence before the entry of a guilty plea. Other courts have held or suggested that the prosecution may suppress exculpatory evidence during plea bargaining, forcing the defendant to negotiate and determine whether to accept a plea offer or proceed to trial without it. Substantial disparities therefore exist in the bargaining power and decision-making ability of criminal defendants, depending on where they are charged. This Note addresses the divide in how courts approach Brady challenges to guilty pleas. After analyzing the development of plea bargaining and the Brady rule, this Note concludes that a guilty plea is not valid if made without awareness of material exculpatory evidence possessed by the prosecution. To provide additional support for the recognition of pre–guilty plea exculpatory Brady rights, this Note presents a case study of two 2012 Supreme Court decisions establishing the right to effective assistance of counsel during plea bargaining, and argues that the same justifications for recognizing that right during plea bargaining apply to Brady as well

Brady Statute Data: Establishing Noncriminal Classifications for the Alaska Department of Public Safety

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 prohibits the purchase of firearms by persons in certain noncriminal categories. These reports describe potential data sources for the identification of mental committments, addicted substance abusers, illegal aliens, and persons who have been the subject of a domestic violence restraining order and discusses possible procedures, problems, and solutions associated with data collection for the purpose of Brady background checks. Lack of infrastructure for collecting certain types of data, incompleteness of information, and state constitutional protections, including the guarantee of privacy, are the chief obstacles to completely meeting the provisions of the Brady Act in Alaska.Bureau of Justice Statistics, United States Department of Justice Grant No. 96-RU-RX-K026Background / Needs and Benefits / Goals and Objectives / Project Design / Findings by Classification / Conclusio

Brady Statute Data: Establishing Noncriminal Classifications for the Alaska Department of Public Safety—Executive Summary

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 prohibited the purchase of firearms by persons in certain noncriminal categories. This executive report summarizes study findings on potential data sources for the identification of mental committments, addicted substance abusers, noncitizens in the U.S. illegally or unlawfully, and persons who have been the subject of a domestic violence restraining order and briefly discusses possible procedures, problems, and solutions associated with data collection for the purpose of Brady background checks. Lack of infrastructure for collecting certain types of data, incompleteness of information, and state constitutional protections, including the guarantee of privacy, were the chief obstacles to completely meeting the provisions of the Brady Act in Alaska.Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S.Department of Justice. Grant No. 96-RU-RX-K026Background / Needs and Benefits / Goals and Objectives / Project Design / Findings by Classification / Conclusio

An Isoperimetric Function for Bestvina-Brady Groups

Given a right-angled Artin group A, the associated Bestvina-Brady group is defined to be the kernel of the homomorphism A \to \mathbb{Z} that maps each generator in the standard presentation of A to a fixed generator of \mathbb{Z}. We prove that the Dehn function of an arbitrary finitely presented Bestvina-Brady group is bounded above by n^4. This is the best possible universal upper bound.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure. Minor typos corrected and cosmetic changes made. Final versio

How does Brady-type commercial debt restructuring work?

The Brady Plan is a pragmatic approach to debt restructuring that combines the relatively recent feature of debt and debt service reduction and the support of official creditors. The underlying premise of those adopting the Brady Plan is that the existing stock of debt can never be fully serviced, even through the country has embarked on a far-reaching adjustment program. To date, only a handful of countries (Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela) have successfully concluded their debt reduction negotiations through a Brady Plan with commercial creditors. Others, such as the Philippines, have engaged in Brady-type debt reduction for part of their outstanding commercial debt. The author explains what happens when, in response to a country's request, the creditors agree to negotiate to reduce the burden of outstanding commercial debt.Strategic Debt Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Housing Finance