JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego notes that with the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Roper v. Simmons, the United States has finally joined the community of nations that says the state-sanctioned execution of children is wrong. Today, the Court repudiated the misguided idea that the United [...]

HR 841, Continuity in Representation Act of 2005, passed by US House of Representatives, March 4, 2005 . Read the full text of the bill here . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Joint Committee on Human Rights — Tenth Report, UK Parliament, March 5, 2005 . Excerpt: We therefore question whether the degree of prior judicial involvement provided for in the Government's amendments in relation to derogating control orders is compatible with the Convention requirement that deprivations of liberty must be lawful. We question whether an ex [...]

After a Thursday ruling thwarted an effort to keep court petitions private , documents filed by Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) related to the case of 41-year-old Terri Schiavo were made public Friday. The DCF is seeking a further 60-day stay of the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube so it may investigate nearly [...]

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said Friday that their first legal battle against Internet file-sharers has been a success. BPI issued their statement after 23 people paid a cumulative sum of £50,000 in an out-of-court settlement. Of those, 17 were men and six women, ranging from 22 and 58 years old. Each signed High Court [...]

journalist Giuliana Sgrena to safety after she had been released from her Iraqi captors. The attack wounded Sgrena and killed an Italian secret service agent. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that he immediately summoned the US ambassador to take responsibility for the accident. He later stated to Sky Italia television , "An Italian agent [...]

The Swiss Federal Prosecutor's office announced Friday that searches conducted in Switzerland on February 22 resulted in the arrests of three individuals accused of running Islamic websites that allowed Internet users to view images of hostage killings and access instructions for bomb-making and kidnapping. The websites also allegedly provided a means of communication between extremist [...]

Britain's Joint Committee on Human Rights warned Friday that the proposed Prevention of Terrorism Bill , even with an amendment allowing only judges to impose house arrest on terror suspects, does not comply with human rights laws. The committee, which is made up of MPs and peers, has said that the procedures outlined in the [...]

Russian prosecutors said Friday that they have arrested four people suspected of planning the Beslan school siege last year, in which over 300 people died. Five other suspects were killed while resisting arrest. A Russian commission investigating the attack has said that senior Kremlin officials were at fault for the lack of organization during the [...]

US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson said Friday that corporate lawyers should devote more time to helping clients obey the law, rather than evading it. Speaking to a gathering of securities lawyers , Donaldson called on lawyers to deliver common-sense advice to their clients rather than engage "in rhetorical somersaults to justify the [...]