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A serious criminal conviction can be a challenging thing to live with. Even long after repaying your debt to society, your past can come back to haunt you, impairing your ability to get a good job, obtain a professional license or find suitable housing.
It took more than a decade to change one of the biggest inequalities in U.S. drug sentencing laws: the 100 to 1 ratio sentencing disparity for federal crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. Prior to the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act on August 3, 2010, those convicted of trafficking as little as five grams of crack cocaine received a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison. The sentence doubled to 10 years for those with 10 grams in their possession.
Many stories concerning drunk driving arrests found in the media may include information about field sobriety tests performed during a traffic stop
Convicted sex offenders face notoriously harsh punishments. In fact, only one person has ever been released in the history of the 19-year-old Minnesota Sex Offender Program. A new lawsuit filed by a sex offender that was committed civilly may determine that this current system is unconstitutional. The 2011 lawsuit is yet to be resolved in federal court; in the meantime, the Minnesota Department of Human Services is starting to consider alternative correction methods that are less restrictive.
People that have been convicted of drug crimes and are also receiving benefits from the state are now required to comply with drug tests according to a law passed by the Minnesota Legislature last year. St. Louis County officials have now begun strictly enforcing the law, which replaces the “self-reporting” system that was in place prior to its passing. The new law requires the state court administrator to provide its list of convicted drug felons to the Department of Human Services.
The second half of a pre-trial hearing has begun for the case involving a 27-year-old woman accused of killing two Carlton county highway department employees while driving under the influence of a controlled substance. The woman is being charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.
Not all sex offenders in Minnesota go to prison. In some cases, a court may decide that such a criminal should be held in a treatment center. Minnesota houses nearly 700 sex offenders in treatment facilities at St. Peter and Moose Lake, and $73 million is spent every year to lock these offenders up. In the last 20 years, however, only one person has ever been released from one of these centers. On Nov. 8, a panel of judges scheduled a hearing to determine whether there should be a second.
It is rare for a fatal drunk driving case to make headlines unless it was caused by a celebrity, but a 22-year-old man’s case has garnered national attention after he made a YouTube video confessing to driving while intoxicated. Not only did he admit to drunk driving, but he later pled guilty in court to vehicular homicide for causing the death of a 61-year-old man. The young man has also expressed his remorse in court.
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