Questions tagged [criminal-law]
For questions about laws related to crime. Please add a location tag if the question is specific to a particular jurisdiction.
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How exactly does civil asset forfeiture work in the United States?
Civil asset forfeiture is a concept that frequently crops up in the news, e.g. the recent Washington Post article "Drug cops took a college kid’s savings and now 13 police departments want a cut".
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Are NDA's that include illegal activity legally binding?
With the recent outpouring of sexual assault allegations, I've been hearing the phrase "Non-disclosure agreement," thrown around quite frequently.
Suppose a woman is sexually assaulted at work, and ...
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Why are there so many youtube to mp4 and mp3 download websites online when it is illegal?
If it is illegal to download videos and audios from youtube due to copyright reasons, why are there so many youtube to mp4 and mp3 download websites online?
For example https://freevideotomp3.com//, ...
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Can killing be "self-defense" if you are committing a crime yourself?
Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with murder.
I believe that the facts of the incident are not in dispute, because of ample video evidence: Rittenhouse was attacked, tried to escape, and when he ...
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How far does the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine extend?
Suppose that an individual has been arrested, multiple times, for possession of controlled substances (i.e. illegal drugs), but has managed to get the charges dropped or dismissed by a court after a ...
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Why does the victim have to press charges?
Case in point that was in the news:
"BART identifies man in viral video of racist attack on train", East Bay Times
A California man attacked a stranger while expressing his hatred of the victim's ...
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When a criminal statute is struck down as unconstitutional, what happens to people who were convicted under it?
We just had a question about what happens to convicts if a law is repealed. However, that question's example of homosexual behavior wasn't decriminalized in the US by legislative action, but rather by ...
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At what point does refusal to report a crime make one an accomplice to a crime?
This is a question out of curiosity only, indirectly inspired by my last question post. I'm wondering at what point not reporting a crime is itself a crime.
I know that if someone happens to witness ...
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Could all participants of the recent Capitol invasion be charged over the death of Officer Brian D. Sicknick?
Prosecutors in the US Attorney's office plan to open a federal murder investigation into the death of Brian D. Sicknick, a US Capitol Police officer who died Thursday night, a law enforcement official ...
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What exactly are an officer's requirements in order to demand ID in the US (New York)?
I watched a YouTube video recently which depicted the following situation, and I'd like to learn more about what peoples' rights are and what an officer's obligations are in a situation like this:
A ...
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Can I be tried for something that's a crime in another state?
Florida Criminal Code 893.13(2)(a) says that
Except as authorized by this chapter and chapter 499, a person may not
purchase, or possess with intent to purchase, a controlled substance.
and if I ...
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Why are people sentenced to prison for terms longer than life?
Albert Morake was sentenced to 1,535 years in prison.
How can a person be sentenced to more than 1 life imprisonment?
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What is the legal take on the trolley problem?
From the Wikipedia page on the trolley problem:
There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead,
on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The
trolley ...
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Can a vaccine be required by law?
This question came up because I read that Bolsonaro, Brazil's president, was criticized by the opposition for saying that COVID-19 vaccinations won't be mandatory. The opposition said that the vaccine ...
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If an adult is raped by a minor, is it statutory rape?
Say an adult is raped by a minor, and does not give legally applicable consent regardless of knowledge of age of the minor. Do statutory rape charges against the adult still apply?
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"Pressing charges" - is it needed to bring a charge?
In movies, it is often the case that we see police decline to proceed with a case because the victim "refused to press charges". Recently we saw this with the battery of Chris Rock by Will ...
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Can a lawyer subject the court to a (temporary) ruse for a legitimate purpose?
This question is about the legality of a possible defence tactic that might be used in a criminal trial. It is a variation on things you see in lawyer movies fairly commonly. Suppose that a criminal ...
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What methods exist to provide relief in criminal cases where the state refuses to prosecute?
In this question it was shown that it is not possible to bypass the States Attorney before the grand jury. But what relief exists in cases where Prosecutorial Discretion might be used to protect ...
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Does the President's Pardon authority extend to crimes not committed at the time of the pardon?
Does the U.S. Constitutional power of the President to pardon extend to crimes not yet committed?
I know Ford gave Nixon a blanket pardon, but he did so for acts that (might have) been committed in ...
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Why are private game servers illegal?
Over on Arqade we were discussing a question which was asking about private servers for a game called World of Warcraft. The discussion was about if using and/or hosting a private server is illegal ...
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If two individuals who are too drunk to give consent have sex are both guilty of rape?
Hypothetically let's say that two individuals are heavily drunk, to the point that their ability to give consent is questionable. They have sex, both of them either don't remember the details of the ...
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Is it legal to "shoot down" a drone on your property in the US?
18 U.S.C 32 states
... to include destruction of any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States or any civil aircraft used, operated or employed in interstate, overseas, or ...
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Is one liable if illegal material is found on one's own server?
This question was prompted by a news article I read earlier today, in which a person described the dilemma they faced on discovering illegal material had been stored by an unidentified third party on ...
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Am I legally responsible for being a developer of a code, if my customer uses it illegally?
I am from an Europe country, I work online and get orders on freelancer websites.
Few months ago, I had a customer hiring me to do some Bitcoin-related coding, I'm one of their developers for 6-7 ...
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International sexting: how often is sexting overseas prosecuted? (Please read details)
I am asking for someone dear to me. This will be a hypothetical example.
Hypothetically, if a 19 year old male (living overseas, say in Turkey) sexts/exchanges nudes with a female who says she is 18 ...
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Defendant compensation after not guilty verdict
My friend is currently a defendant in a criminal case. In my opinion, based on what I know about the case, it's likely the verdict will be 'Not Guilty', and that the evidence is based on faulty ...
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Can you be convicted of both first- and second-degree murder?
A TV show reported a case where a man killed two teenagers and was convicted of both two counts of first degree murder and two counts of second degree murder.
Is this possible? I know that you can ...
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Stealing my own property back?
I have a guitar that I let my friend Joe borrow on the consensus that he would return it in a couple of days. Joe is a mutual friend of my ex Bob.
Bob stole the guitar from Joe once he found out it ...
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Why is murder considered a more serious crime than attempted murder?
By its sentencing guidelines (the world over?), murder is considered a more serious crime than attempted murder.
If intent to kill has indeed been proven, does the latter crime reward incompetence ...
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Course of action in a criminal case when there is no conceivable defense
I am not a lawyer or a law student; my work is in mathematics, but I like to learn about criminal law as a hobby. I have spent some time googling and searching to find an answer to my question but ...
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Can a person purposely provoke someone to hit him and then report a crime?
Say someone purposely provokes another person by insulting him, knowing that this person is easily provoked.
The provoked person then hits him.
Can the person then report a crime or even file a civil ...
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Is mere accusation without evidence other than testimony of the accuser, grounds for arrest in the UK?
Several years ago I was stopped in public by the police. Someone had 'identified' me as abusing them in terms of their gender two years before that. Had that happened, I suppose it would have been ...
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If you escaped from prison for a crime you did not commit, would you still serve the increased sentence once exonerated?
For example: you were convicted of murder and escaped and were then sentenced to years on top of your original sentence, but you were later exonerated of the crime of murder; would you still have to ...
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Arizona laws regarding ownership of ground glassware for chemistry usage
I was watching a YouTube video that included an interview with a Clandestine Chemist, and at the 8:50 mark, he states:
In Arizona, mere possession of ground glassware is a felony, if you're not a ...
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Can an "FBI domain seizure" April Fools joke land you in jail?
I found this GitHub repository that contains collection of several different intelligence agency domain seizure pages, including FBI domain seizure.
It is meant to be used by said agencies for real ...
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Can someone get protection under Double Jeopardy for a crime by arranging to be put on trial with fake evidence that is then disproven?
Lets say I just killed Bob (I'm doing a lot of that today). The police suspect me but currently have little evidence that I killed Bob. However, I haven't hidden the murder weapon and body well and ...
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Borrow something and return it considered stealing?
So I was thinking, if I rode a coworkers bike home and returned it early the next morning before he noticed, is that legally considered stealing?
Would this be legally considered stealing in CA?
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Can I surprise the prosecution with an alibi defense at trial?
Let's say I've been accused of a murder. Throughout the investigation I've plead the Fifth as to where I was when the crime happened. Eventually I'm put on trial, still pleading the fifth as to my ...
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Does a police officer have to get permission to break the law?
Does a police officer require permission before breaking the law?
Justice Brandeis states:
Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same ...
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Can a cop direct a pharmacist to fill a known fraudulent prescription in order to convict a subject of a higher crime?
If a cop is responding to a known fraudulent prescription, ask the pharmacist to stall the subject until they arrive so he can arrest the subject, but, instead of making the arrest for attempt to ...
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Is a lawyer allowed to stop representing his client?
Imagine a person accused of committing a crime hires a lawyer. After a while something happens and the lawyer decides he or she doesn't want to represent the client any more.
For example:
Ethical ...
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Can you keep illegal information?
This answer to the question Can numbers be illegal? makes a good argument, and AFAIK it comports with the law. It follows other answers in observing that any piece of information can be encoded by ...
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Can a jury always convict on a lesser included charge?
There is a question on movie stack exchange regarding the Few good men movie (spoilers) regarding why some people were not found guilty of first degree murder but only of a factually fully different ...
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Is spousal immunity affected if one spouse dies?
Disclaimer: I'm a writer trying to figure something out for a story I'm working on, so forgive me if I sound totally insane.
Okay. Spousal privilege/immunity. Protects someone from having to testify ...
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Have there ever been any thought crimes?
Has there ever been anywhere a law criminalizing certain thoughts? The closest I can find is The Treason Act 1351, which is still in force in Britain today. This criminalizes compassing or imagining ...
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Any solid research on error rate of criminal conviction system: jury vs judges?
To my knowledge most countries use one of two systems for determining the guilt of the accused in criminal cases: “jury of your peers” (who don’t have to justify their decision) vs “judg(es), possibly ...
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Can you establish a "guilty mind" if the defendant is a victim of blackmail?
For many criminal offences, from what I understand, you have to establish 2 aspects: actus reus (the act of crime), and mens rea (the guilty mind). The mens rea can be many things: from as direct as ...
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Why do the accused rarely plead guilty?
I notice that in the United States it seems like the accused rarely plead guilty in the case of a serious crime, even if the evidence is overwhelming. Not infrequently I will see cases in which the ...
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Is defending someone being physically attacked self-defence or assault?
Suppose one day a vicious attacker (let's call him Thug) assaults Emily in the street. A bystander (let's call him Paul) rushes to Emily's aid, attacking Thug in her defense. After a few minutes, Thug ...
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It is legal to save and index a copy of any leaked database?
I'm wondering if it is legal to use a copy of a leaked database like the leaked Adobe database containing email addresses, encrypted passwords and password hints.
I can imagine it won't be legal to ...
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