Career Criminals Targeted: The Verdict is in, California\u27s Three Strikes Law Proves Effective

This Article reviews the impact of the Three Strikes law over the last decade and concludes that, based on data that have been collected and the manner in which the law has been applied, it has proved effective. The first section of this Article explores the history behind the legislation and the law itself. The second part of this Article sets forth three reasons why the Three Strikes law has proved effective: (1) The Three Strikes law is carrying out its goals by incapacitating career criminals and deterring crime. Since its enactment California\u27s crime rate has dropped, and, for the first time in eighteen years, parolees are leaving the state. (2) Contrary to initial concerns, the Three Strikes law has been implemented without substantially increasing state costs or overcrowding prisons. (3) The Three Strikes law has built-in safeguards that allow trial judges and prosecutors to exercise discretion to ensure that the law targets those who are career criminals. This discretion has been successfully exercised throughout the state. This is evidenced by the fact that most incarcerated thirdstrikers who are serving sentences of twenty-five years to life committed more than three serious or violent felonies

When the Commerce Clause Goes International: A Proposed Legal Framework for the Foreign Commerce Clause

The world is becoming a smaller place. Technology and the Internet have made global travel and communication easier, quicker, and more common. Novel legal issues arise every day to deal with this modern interconnected world. How does the law address these new problems? Congress is allowed “[t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” The scope of Congress’s power to regulate commerce “among the several States” (the “Interstate Commerce Clause”) has long been debated. In the modern world of global interaction, Congress’s power to regulate commerce “with foreign Nations” (the “Foreign Commerce Clause”) may soon take center-stage. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has not yet articulated a legal framework for the Foreign Commerce Clause. This lack of guidance has lead to circuit splits and confusion as to the scope of this power

Career Criminals Targeted: The Verdict is in, California\u27s Three Strikes Law Proves Effective

This Article reviews the impact of the Three Strikes law over the last decade and concludes that, based on data that have been collected and the manner in which the law has been applied, it has proved effective. The first section of this Article explores the history behind the legislation and the law itself. The second part of this Article sets forth three reasons why the Three Strikes law has proved effective: (1) The Three Strikes law is carrying out its goals by incapacitating career criminals and deterring crime. Since its enactment California\u27s crime rate has dropped, and, for the first time in eighteen years, parolees are leaving the state. (2) Contrary to initial concerns, the Three Strikes law has been implemented without substantially increasing state costs or overcrowding prisons. (3) The Three Strikes law has built-in safeguards that allow trial judges and prosecutors to exercise discretion to ensure that the law targets those who are career criminals. This discretion has been successfully exercised throughout the state. This is evidenced by the fact that most incarcerated thirdstrikers who are serving sentences of twenty-five years to life committed more than three serious or violent felonies

Protecting “Any Child”: The Use of the Confidential-Marital-Communications Privilege in Child-Molestation Cases

This is the published version

Career Criminals Targeted: The Verdict Is In, California’s Three Strikes Law Proves Effective

Being sentenced to life in prison for stealing a few video tapes or stealing golf clubs? These are few of the stories that are emphasized when criticizing California’s Three Strikes law. Since its inception, California’s Three Strikes law has generated controversy. Aimed at incarcerating career criminals, it has been tagged as one of the toughest “tough on crime” statutes in the country. It has been over a decade since the law was passed and this article explores why – contrary to most of the other academic discussions of the law— it has been and continues to be effective in dealing with career criminals. There are three reasons why it is working: (1) The Three Strikes law is carrying out its goals by incapacitating career criminals and deterring crime. (2) The Three Strikes law has been implemented without substantially increasing state costs or overcrowding prisons. (3) The Three Strikes law has built-in safeguards that allow trial judges and prosecutors to exercise discretion to ensure that the law targets those who are career criminals

Cyberstalking, a New Crime: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Current State and Federal Laws

This article explores how the nature of cyberstalking represents a form of behavior distinct from offline stalking. As such, the interpretation of many of the statutes dealing with offline stalking may be inadequate to address the problem. The first part of this article explores the differences between offline stalking and cyberstalking. The second part examines what the criminal elements of cyberstalking should be in light of these differences. The third part considers how these differences create gaps in both state and federal stalking statutes so that it may be difficult to adequately prosecute all aspects of cyberstalking. This section also suggests ways to close these gaps. The fourth part deals with potential issues in criminalizing cyberstalking and how these issues might be resolved. Finally, the Appendix to the article sets forth all state and federal stalking laws and how they might currently deal with cyberstalking, if at all

Minnesota: Leading the Way on Canadian Prescription Medicine Importation

In the United States, about $160 billion is spent on prescription medicines each year, with Minnesotans spending about$3 billion. The costs of prescription medicines receive so much attention in large part because, although prescription medicine costs constitute only 10.5% of total health care spending, they account for 23% of the total out-of-pocket costs that people incur when purchasing health care. Minnesota has been a leader in controlling prescription medicine costs. It has aggressively used purchasing pools when possible, and encouraged the use of lower cost, generic prescription medicines when appropriate. Even with these efforts to control costs, prescription medicines were still becoming too costly for many Minnesotans to afford. Busloads of senior citizens headed north for Canada. Others used Internet pharmacies, some of which were unsafe. The need for lower cost prescription medicine alternatives and a desire to protect the safety of Minnesotans who seek them caused Governor Pawlenty, in September of 2003, to direct the Minnesota Department of Human Services to examine the feasibility of importing prescription medicines from Canada and other international sources. He directed the Commissioner of Human Services to examine methods to address the needs of Minnesota state employees, the citizens served through the state’s public assistance programs, and the state’s citizens at large. In response to this directive, a three-phase plan was developed. The plan called for the development of a website to empower Minnesota consumers to purchase mail-order prescription medicines for personal use from approved Canadian pharmacies; the option for Minnesota state employees to voluntarily obtain prescriptions for maintenance medications from Canadian pharmacies; and the establishment of a pilot project that allows Minnesotans to purchase Canadian prescription medicines from their local pharmacies

Caul and method for bonding and curing intricate composite structures

The invention disclosed here is a method for forming and curing an intricate structure of criss-crossing composite stringers and frames that are bonded to a skin panel. A structure constructed in accordance with the invention would be well-suited for use as a portion of an aircraft fuselage, a boat hull, or the like. The method is preferably practiced by applying uncured composite stringers to an uncured composite sheet panel. This is followed by placing cured frames crosswise over the stringers. The frames have openings at the locations where they intersect with the stringers which enables the frames to come into direct contact with the skin along most of their length. During the forming and curing process, the stringers are covered with a plurality of cauls, and the entire assembly of skin panel, stringers, frames and cauls is subjected to a vacuum bagging and curing process. The cauls serve to maintain both part shape and to control the flow of resin within the stringers as they are cured. Further, they probably eliminate the need for intermediate protective materials between the vacuum bag and the stringers

Development of a Method to Generate a Simplified Finite Element Model for an Electrical Switchboard Cabinet

Electrical switchboards are one of the key pieces of equipment used in operations of most critical facilities such as hospitals and emergency services buildings. Unfortunately, past observations have shown that the switchboard cabinet and its contents may be vulnerable to damage or failure during an earthquake. An electrical switchboard cabinet is a complex structure typically constructed using cold-formed steel frame members enclosed by steel panels and containing a variety of switchgear and bus bars. The panels are usually fastened to the steel members by screws, and the steel members are connected together by bolts or screws. The structural behavior of the cabinet can be evaluated using shake table testing and/or high fidelity finite element models. However, these methods are relatively expensive, highly specific, and interpretation of the results may be difficult. Therefore, a method to formulate a simplified finite element model for the cabinet is proposed in this study. The simplified model consists of beam elements (Timoshenko), shell elements and springs. This model can be constructed and executed computationally at a lower cost, and interpretation of the results is a simpler assignment. The present model has the capability to capture the effect of warping deformation in the frame members and possible nonlinear behaviors of the cabinet, such as: local buckling at the end of frame members due to high bending moments, failure of the screw connections and buckling of the panels. The simplified model is validated using a high fidelity model of the cabinet under 1st-order and 2nd-order pushover analyses. Future work to incorporate structural models for the internal components is also discussed