Most people in Jacksonville and throughout Florida know that it is against the law to drive a vehicle without wearing a seat belt. A violation of this law typically results in a traffic ticket and a fine. It is also fairly common knowledge that many criminal investigations and arrests are…
Consider a scenario where a Jacksonville police officer suspects a person is involved with illegal drugs (such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy or methamphetamine) and enlists the help of a confidential informant (aka a CI) to set up a drug deal with that person. For instance, the Jacksonville police officer…
In Jacksonville, Florida, it is not uncommon for a person to be arrested and charged for a possession of drugs (such as marijuana or cocaine) in addition to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. However, depending on the circumstances, the prosecutors are not allowed to use evidence of…
Not necessarily; it depends on the circumstances. Consider a case in Jacksonville, Florida where a driver caused a serious motor vehicle accident. The Jacksonville police officer showed up and reported that this driver appeared impaired, unresponsive and subject to mood swings. At the hospital, a blood sample was taken from…
Entrapment is a word that is often misused and misunderstood. In Florida criminal law, entrapment is a defense to a crime, such as sale of drugs or drug trafficking, that can be used in limited circumstances. For instance, in a recent criminal case out of Florida, a defendant was charged…
As part of the war on drugs, the federal government initiated the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign back in 1999 and spent approximately $1 billion on it. The study had the laudable goal of educating young people and trying to deter them from using drugs. However, a recent study has…
A recent poll indicated that a majority of Americans support eliminating minimum mandatory sentences for nonviolent crimes. A minimum mandatory sentence is a sentence that is prescribed by the state legislature or Congress that indicates the minimum, or lowest, sentence a person can get after being convicted of certain crimes.…
According to recent reports and articles, high schools across the United States are increasingly drug testing their students. Court cases that have addressed the legality of drug testing in high schools have resulted in opinions that allow high schools to drug test students as a prerequisite to joining school sports…
Jacksonville police and police officers all over Florida commonly use drug dogs or K-9’s that are trained to detect the odor of marijuana, crack, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs to search for those drugs in vehicles and other areas. However, there is some question as to how reliable these…
A new report from the FBI revealed that police and other law enforcement officials continue to arrest drug offenders at very high rates, particularly people who merely possess marijuana. In 2007, 1.9 million people were arrested on drug charges, 872,000 of them for marijuana offenses. Arrests for marijuana offenses increased…