A UNC School of Government Blog
Jeff Welty 
I love Fridays! Here’s the news of the week: 1. The Youth Accountability Task Force, which was charged by the General Assembly with studying the age at which young offenders should be treated as adults, has released its recommendations. WRAL’s story is here and provides a link to the group’s report. The short version is … Read more
I wrote here about 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), the federal statute that prohibits people who have been convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from possessing firearms. Federal law also prohibits felons, drug addicts, “mental defective[s],” illegal aliens, and various other groups from having guns. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). In the wake of District of Columbia v. … Read more
There have been a number of interesting stories in the news this week. 1. The national focus has been on Tucson, Arizona, where Jared Loughner is being held without bail on federal charges related to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of federal district court judge John Roll, among others. There are … Read more
Federal law makes it illegal for a person to possess a gun after having been “convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.” 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). A “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” is a misdemeanor that “has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened … Read more
We’re trying something novel today. Jamie Markham has prepared our first video blog post, in which he highlights sentencing and corrections stories to follow in 2011. It includes a discussion of sex offender laws, the Bowden life-sentenced inmates, and several other important issues, so please check it out. And let us know what you think … Read more
I thought I’d take a minute to discuss three questions that I get about prescription drugs. [Update: Several people posted comments or emailed me about the relationship between prescription drugs and controlled substances. I discussed that issue in some detail in this post, but briefly, some prescription drugs contain controlled substances and some don’t. Certainly, … Read more
It’s time for the first news roundup of the new year! There have been quite a few interesting stories recently, including the following: 1. The New York Times reports that cell phones are widespread in prison. One Georgia inmate reports that “almost everybody has a phone,” usually a smartphone. In addition to playing FarmVille on … Read more
As I noted in a previous post, it is a crime under G.S. 14-454(b) “willfully and without authorization . . . [to] access[] . . . any computer.” I posed a few scenarios in that earlier post, including one in which a judge tells a law clerk not to use the internet during business hours … Read more
Happy new year! It’s great to be back at work after a relaxing vacation. I’ve written before about traffic stops. Recently, I returned to the subject and completed a pretty detailed primer on traffic stops and the Fourth Amendment. The paper, which is available here, treats traffic stops chronologically. First it addresses when a traffic … Read more
Tomorrow’s a holiday, and the blog is going on vacation next week, so this will be the last post of 2010. Before rounding up the news, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who reads, subscribes to, posts comments on, suggests topics for, or contributes in any other way to this blog. It … Read more