Criminal Justice

Not Guilty: The Power of Nullification to Counteract Government Tyranny

by John W. Whitehead November 4, 2016

“The people have the power, all we have to do is awaken that power in the people. The people are unaware. They’re not educated to realize that they have power. The system is so geared that everyone believes the government will fix everything. We are the government.”—John Lennon How do you balance the scales of justice at a ...

All the Ways You Can Comply and Still Die During An Encounter with Police

by John W. Whitehead October 4, 2016

“Police are specialists in violence. They are armed, trained, and authorized to use force. With varying degrees of subtlety, this colors their every action. Like the possibility of arrest, the threat of violence is implicit in every police encounter. Violence, as well as the law, is what they represent.”—Author Kristian Williams How do you protect yourself from flying ...

Killer Instincts: When Police Become Judge, Jury and Executioner

by John W. Whitehead August 12, 2016

Any police officer who shoots to kill is playing with fire. In that split second of deciding whether to shoot and where to aim, that officer has appointed himself judge, jury and executioner over a fellow citizen. And when an officer fires a killing shot at a fellow citizen not once or twice but three and four and five times, ...

Supreme Fashion Reject

by James Bovard January 1, 2016

“You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth,” the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen declared in his famous play An Enemy of the People.  Unfortunately, the justices on the Supreme Court of the United States — the sacred burial ground of Americans’ rights and liberties — are not members of Ibsen’s ...

Drivers, Beware: The Costly, Deadly Dangers of Traffic Stops in the American Police State

by John W. Whitehead July 30, 2015

“The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official. The framers would be appalled.”—Herman Schwartz, The Nation Trying to predict the outcome ...

The American Nightmare: The Tyranny of the Criminal Justice System

by John W. Whitehead July 23, 2015

  How can the life of such a man Be in the palm of some fool’s hand? To see him obviously framed Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land Where justice is a game. —Bob Dylan, “Hurricane” Justice in America is not all it’s cracked up to be. Just ask Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16 years in prison ...

The Libertarian Angle: Trial by Jury

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 12, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger discusses the hot topics of the day. This week, the folly of the minimum wage. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Podcast here.

Eric Holder’s Leviathan-Loving Legacy

by James Bovard May 1, 2015

Last summer, Attorney General Eric Holder solemnly declared, “The name ought to be changed. It’s an offensive name.” Holder observed that despite the organization’s “storied history,” it could “increase their fan base” by changing their name — “if they did something that from my perspective that is so obviously right.” Unfortunately, Holder was referring to the name of the Washington ...

Cops and Donuts Don’t Mix

by James Bovard April 1, 2015

On a Sunday morning early last summer, I was driving south across the Potomac River to a hike in Fairfax County, Virginia. The previous night the hike leader posted online a map of the jaunt. It looked like a typical suburban stroll until I saw a Dunkin’ Donuts marked near the start point. As the Food and Drug Administration ...

Police Reject Internet Solution to Solicitation Problem

by Laurence M. Vance February 24, 2015

Like any other large city, Washington, D.C., had, and to some extent still has, what is termed a red-light district. Home to a collection of seedy bars, strip clubs, peep shows, burlesque shows, massage parlors, sex shops, porno theaters, and, of course, prostitutes, a visit to these areas served as a rite of passage for young men, although they ...

Rein In the Police, Not Protesters

by Scott McPherson January 9, 2015

My brother once quipped, “The great thing about being a Leftist is never having to say you’re sorry.” He was talking about the propensity of those who erroneously describe themselves as “liberals” to endlessly pat themselves on the back for their allegedly grand intentions, while conveniently ignoring the actual consequences of their failed policies. As P.J. O’Rourke observed, ...

What about the Detainees in U.S. Prisons?

by Laurence M. Vance December 18, 2014

The United States has finally released the last three detainees from the Parwan Detention Center in Afghanistan. “The Defense Department no longer operates detention facilities in Afghanistan nor maintains custody of any detainees,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Myles Caggins told The Associated Press. Two of the detainees were transferred to Afghan custody for possible prosecution and a third ...