Three Strikes Law in California

NPR All Things Considered — A law in California, called the "three strikes" law, requires very severe sentences (25 years to life) for offenders convicted of a third offense, even stealing a pair of socks, after two "serious or violent" crimes. The NPR 3 part series examines the history, disparity of application, and effect of this law.

part 1 Oct. 28, 7:50 min. ; part 2 Oct. 29, 5:55 min. ; part 3 Oct. 30, 7:23 min. NPR mediaPlayer or .mp3, transcripts available.

Innocence Project Subpoenas

NPR Talk of the Nation Oct. 26, 2009

Students working in an Innocence Project in Chicago (investigating cases where prisoners may have been falsely convicted) have received broad subpoenas to produce documents including their notes, emails and grades, raising questions of privileges normally given to lawyers and reporters. Jonathan Turley, professor of public interest law at George Washington University and Barry Scheck, pioneer of the Innocence Project in New York give their views.

30 min., NPR mediaPlayer, .mp3, transcript (mistakes)

Torture and the Law Professor

PBS Newshour Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Should John Yoo, co-author of a report which the Bush administration used to justify its use of torture, be allowed to remain as a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley?

.mp3 video 8:26 min, transcript

Tax Haven Crackdown

OnPoint Radio (NPR) October 15, 2009 Tom Ashbrook has a discussion with two journalists, Carrick Mollenkamp, and David Cay Johnston, and attorney H. David Rosenbloom, about an attempt by U.S. tax authorities to convince citizens with undeclared foreign bank accounts to declare them in exchange for more lenient treatment.

Realplayer, WMP ± 40 min., no transcript

U.K. Supreme Court

C-Span has a long video concerning the first day of business at the new U.K. Supreme Court - Monday, October 5, 2009 .

It begins (first 9 min.) with an interview with Joshua Rozenberg - legal columnist for Standpoint magazine - followed by the proceedings in an appeal about the freezing of financial assets of terrorist suspects. 38 min. no transcript

C-Span also posted a video on YouTube of the opening ceremonies on October 16th - in the presence of the Queen, with short speeches by Lord Phillips, President of the Court and by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown . Three justices from the U.S. Supreme Court were present. 7:42 min. no transcript

Achieving a Deal on Climate Change: A European Union View on Copenhagen

The American Council on Foreign Relations invited José Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission to speak on climate change - a European Union view on Copenhagen on September 21, 2009.

Video and audio, transcript available (some mistakes).

Judicial impartiality

Parts of a forum on judicial values were posted on the Australian programme The Law Report of Oct. 6, 2009 Two prominent former judges, Australia's Michael Kirby and Germany's Bernhard Schlink, talk frankly about personal values and the task of judging. The recording is only available for about a month, so download it while it's hot. flashplayer and .mp3, 29 min. transcript available.

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court

The Reckoning was shown on the PBS program Point of View in July 2009. It is being streamed in its entirety online until October 21st, 2009 for some, but not in France where it is not available due to rights restrictions. However, there are some very good clips available.

4 interviews (with transcripts)

• John Bolton — opposes the ICC (4:32 min.)
• Christine Chung — former senior trial attorney for the ICC (3:46 min.)
• Fatou Bensouda — a deputy prosecutor at the ICC (5:05 min.)
• Ben Ferencz — former prosecutor at Nuremberg (6:14 min.)

The history of the ICC (no transcript)

• An overview of the conficts and international tribunals that preceded the creation of the International Criminal Court (16:40 min.)
• The Rome Conference (4:14 min.)
• The ICC (7:17 min.)

As a compliment to these videos you can read Perspectives on International Justice and Human Rights - eight views on the U.S. and the ICC and find background and film-related links.

This documentary was discussed at On Point, WBUR Boston, August 5, 2009. (60 min., no transcript)

Constitution Day

September 17th was Constitution Day in the U.S. Any school receiving federal funds is required to hold some sort of event related to the Constitution on the anniversary of the day the document was signed by its drafters in 1787. Videos of several of these events have been posted on the internet. Georgetown Law Center organized a panel "Defining Human Rights: What Role Does International Law Play in Our Constitutional System?" The panel discussion begins at 51 min.

Harvard organized a panel debating the merits and shortcomings of the Constitution. Panelists included former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, and Harvard Professors Noah Feldman, Charles Fried, Mark Tushnet and Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas Law School. 2h16min. RealPlayer, no script. The discussion with Justice Souter begins at 1h20.

U.K. Supreme Court

Yesterday the final court of appeal in civil matters for the United Kingdom was the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords. From today it is known as the Supreme Court. The BBC has several short videos describing the changes that have taken place. In addition, an audio recording from the Today programme of 8 September talking about the changes can be found here.

The College of Law has posted a podcast of an interview with Jenny Rowe, the CEO of the new Supreme Court. (.mp3, 20 min., transcript available)