Blog Posts

Consider the following case: A boy gets into an argument with a classmate. Tempers flare. The boy physically assaults his classmate, injuring the classmate. There is no question here of self-defense. Has a crime been committed?
All crimes have at least two things in common: A prohibited act and...

A question from the floor at yesterday's conference on reforming sex offender legislation surprised me. I wish I had the chance to answer it all over again. But I am back home now. The conference continues today and tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
The question went something like this: Although...

Confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan will take place before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. There is little doubt she will be confirmed, and even less doubt that she is intellectually capable to serve as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court. The real question is, I suppose, why...

Almost every time I stand in the presence of a group of people to talk about sex offenses and accused sex offenders I face the scorn of those assembled. Few crimes are as reviled. But today was different. I stood in the auditorium of a church in Washington, D.C., and faced a friendly group....

I hate losing a trial. Period. Put me in front of a jury and I am competitive. I want to win. I'd cross-examine God if I could find him. Mother Theresa? She's a free loader. Yeah, sure, the wages of sin may be death, but I want those wages paid with interest when they're due. Even a junkyard dog...

I'll be speaking this weekend at a conference in Washington, D.C., devoted to the reform of sex offender legislation. One hundred or so folks from around the nation are gathering to brainstorm on what to do about a body of law that is often harsh and indiscriminate. I should have reached out to...

I'll be speaking this weekend at a conference in Washington, D.C., devoted to the reform of sex offender legislation. One hundred or so folks from around the nation are gathering to brainstorm on what to do about a body of law that is often harsh and indiscriminate. I should have reached out to...

Alfred Eisenstaedt is dead at 91. His photographs have become an inchoate part of the national psyche. One photograph, that of a young sailor kissing a woman at Times Square when the Japanese surrendered in World War II, has long been shrouded in mystery. Just who was that soldier?
Connecticut...

We took a tremendous national risk when we elected as president a man with virtually no experience in foreign affairs. But we wanted change. So we elected Barack Obama and made him commander in chief of the armed forces. Little did we know we'd bargained for a man with the sensibilities of a...

It happens everywhere and without fail. A group forms, and someone decides that rules are necessary. Jesus loved the world, then along came the Church. Before you know it, a religion of universal love drew lines between the saved and the damned, the orthodox and the heretic. I accept that anarchism...