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    In his book, Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison (roughly translated as “Discipline and Punish: the birth of the prison”), Michel Foucault discusses a social theory called “panopticism.”       The basic idea of panopticism is the...

In a Class B possession of marijuana case, the State has the burden to prove that the defendant knowingly or intentionally possessed a usable quantity of marijuana in an amount two ounces or less. TEXAS HEALTH & SAFETY CODE s481.121(b)(1). No “usable quantity”, no...

Courts have, for over a century now, considered a MAN assaulting a WOMAN to be a crime of “moral turpitude.” See Curtis v. State, 81 S.W. 29 (Tex.Crim. 1904); Stewart v. State, 272 S.W. 202 (Tex.Crim. 1925); Lloyd v. State, 204 S.W.2d 633 (Tex.Crim. 1947); Dempsey v....

I would imagine that a great number of confidential informants (that’s the police word for them; to everyone else, they are generally known as “snitches”) are surprised to learn that their identity is not so “confidential” after all.   The privilege to refuse to...

    Without a doubt, the greatest drama ever to be aired on HBO was The Wire, which ran from 2002-2008. For those unfamiliar with the show, each season took a look at a different player or character in the Baltimore drug trade. Early on in the show, the...