It may be time for scorned lovers living in Florida to back off from toying with the idea of posting on the Internet, evidence of their once-heated moments. That practice should completely be done away with as the state’s governor, Governor Rick Scott, has already signed into law the Revenge Porn Bill, which makes it unlawful in the state to post “revenge porn” images and videos on the Internet. Florida became the 18th US state criminalizing the said offense. Currently, 23 states in the US have revenge porn laws. First Amendment People have different takes. To some, the bill allows encroachment into people’s business and privacy, particularly on the part of the violators. Furthermore, the bill may be limiting free speech enshrined in the First Amendment. Others think that the bill is good enough to limit harmful acts against unsuspecting ex-partners, stating that such acts can have longtime emotional, reputational, and psychological effects on the part of the victim. Many advocates lament the fact that the House session when the bill was put on the floor, ended too early for legislators to have a longer… Read More

The way a law is interpreted is much more important than the said law itself. In case that a law is written confusingly, the jury might misinterpret the law and make decisions that were not intended by the author of the law. Due to that, a criminal defendant might receive a faulty verdict. A criminal might be freed or an innocent man might be punished. Florida has been a prime witness in such faults. For 15 years, almost 100 attempted murder and/or murder convictions have been scrapped due to the state’s faultily written Manslaughter by Act. Most of the convictions have resulted to plea agreements and new trials. The Problematic Manslaughter by Act Manslaughter by act is an event wherein one person murdered another through an unlawful action against the victim, but the person who killed did not have any intentions of killing. For example: Two men are in a fistfight. Man A punches Man B, and Man B falls on the ground, which resulted to Man B’s head hitting the floor and dying of brain injury and other complications. Hence, Man A will be… Read More

An incident involving two convicted New York prisoners who escaped from a maximum security jail brought much attention to the issue on how far an enforcer’s right to use deadly force against escapees could go. Out of the two escapees mentioned above, one ended up dead after being shot by the pursuing officers. The other escapee was captured a couple of days after the incident. He was found bleeding because of a gunshot wound. Now, the big question is: “Are law enforcement officers really given the right to use deadly force when dealing with escaped convicts?” Proper Treatment of Convicts Based on American Bar Association Standards The ABA (American Bar Association), the group responsible for the creation and implementation of humane standards for treating convicts, has a very clear answer to the question above. Yes, deadly force can be used against a convict attempting to escape but this should be under special circumstances only. “Escaping” means leaving the enclosed areas of the prison without due permission from the authorities. Jail guards or other law enforcers are required to issue a loud verbal warning or other… Read More