Outside the Beltway

A deep dive into why imperfect Criminal Legal System data is still reliable

“Classical liberals” really need to rediscover self examination

It doesn’t appear the Uvalde TX police were underfunded

Considering Breonna Taylor’s death, police shootings, and human rights.

A nuanced take on a complicated set of facts distorted in the public debate.

Scenes from the war on drugs.

The Supreme Court is now considering a case that deals with the problem of overly broad civil asset forfeiture laws and a Defendant’s right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment.

President Obama is taking steps to reduce police militarization, but there’s much more that needs to be done.

Not surprisingly, a law passed in the wake of the September 11th attacks has been used mostly for things that have nothing to do with terrorism.

After two and a half decades, the images of June 4, 1989 resonate with many, unless you happen to live in China.

The paramilitarization of American law enforcement has had deadly consequences.

A case from Nevada provides another example of police abuse, and a possible claim arising under the long-forgotten Third Amendment.

The OTB gang give their best guess at the outcome of the 2012 presidential contest.

Keep that gift card in your wallet too long and the government may come for it.

The US Supreme Court ruled today that police can strip search anyone they decide to arrest for anything for any reason.

Is the NYPD becoming too much like the CIA?

Cory Maye has spent ten years on death row after a trial tainted by racism and corruption. In a few days, he will be free.

While it’s always dangerous to extrapolate too much from high profile cases to the system as a whole, the strange case of Dominque Strauss-Kahn practically invites it.

Sure, Radley Balko has apologized to John Cole. But I don’t think he means it.

David Rittgers, a legal policy analyst at the Cato Institute who served three tours in Afghanistan as a special forces officer, laments the militarization of police in America.

A system designed to protect the innocent has instead become a menagerie to imprison them. A legal code designed to proscribe specific behavior has instead become a vast, vague, and unpredictable invitation to selective enforcement.

Gil Scott-Heron, most famous “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” has died at 62.

Osama bin Laden is dead, but he’s succeeded in changing America for the worse.

Yes, please secure your home networks. But also: perhaps the police need to reevaluate their tactics.

The ability of people to put aside rational judgment when it comes to political figures is, in a word, puzzling.

Humorous take on America’s wars.

Radley Balko and his blogs are moving to Huffington Post.

Rick Santorum is upset that a Google search for his name produces a string of unflattering material. You should be, too.

An Ohio woman was convicted of two felony counts for sending her kids to good schools.

Complaints from Rush Limbaugh tthat the ACLU is ignoring the intrusions into America’s civil liberties by the TSA are completely unfounded.

his blog post originally stated that one in three black men who have sex with me is HIV positive. In fact, the statistic applies to black men who have sex with men.

Radley Balko, as tough a critic of excesses by police officer as any journalist working, offers a plausible defense of former BART cop Johannes Mehserle.

In conjunction with Father’s Day, the Obama administration unveiled Fatherhood.gov, a website offering advice to men on raising kids. Why is this a job for the federal government?