UK Home Secretary John Reid, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote to British judges on Wednesday urging them to limit imposition of prison sentences to only the most dangerous criminals in order to help the government deal with prison overcrowding . MPs on the opposition Conservative Party benches say the government [...]

JURIST Special Guest Columnist Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, says that since he began work in late 2003 his office has already faced and met several key challenges in bringing to justice persons suspected of committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity … I took office as [...]

The trial of 29 people suspected of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings will begin on February 15, according to an announcement from the Spanish National Court Tuesday. At least three of the 29 suspects are expected to take the stand as a part of the trial, and the seven main suspects face jail [...]

UK Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald said Tuesday that there is no "war on terror" in Britain and warned that inappropriate measures driven by fear threaten an accused's right to a fair trial. In a speech delivered to the UK Criminal Bar Association, Macdonald, who also heads the Crown Prosecution Service , stressed that [...]

A federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of NHL players against Ted Saskin, head of the National Hockey League Players' Association . Judge Suzanne B. Conlon of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled Monday that since the NHLPA and most of the witnesses are [...]

President Bush pressed for comprehensive immigration reform in his State of Union address Tuesday night, urging US lawmakers to take action to secure US borders, enhance interior and worksite enforcement of immigration laws, create a temporary worker program, resolve "without animosity or amnesty" the status of illegal immigrants already in the US, and promote assimilation. [...]

City of Farmers Branch, Ordinance 2903, January 22, 2006 . Read the full text of the revised ordinance . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

State Farm insurance company reached a settlement Tuesday with hundreds of Mississippi policyholders whose claims were denied after Hurricane Katrina , bringing an end to a trial that began January 9 in the US District for the Southern District of Mississippi . The agreement between State Farm and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood will award [...]

The US House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill Tuesday to deny retirement pensions to any member of Congress "convicted of any of certain offenses," including fraud, bribery and perjury. Currently, federal lawmakers can only be stripped of their benefits for treason or espionage. The new legislation, passed by a vote of 431-0 , adds [...]

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday that he was unaware of a US offer to release Guantanamo Bay detainee Murat Kurnaz , a German-born Turk, to Germany in 2002 notwithstanding a finding by a committee of the European parliament investigating CIA activity in Europe that Germany refused the offer, extending Kurnaz' detention for three [...]