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  • Utah legislative representatives, prosecuting attorneys, and state officials are pushing for probation and parole reform. The main goal is to cut down on the number of adults in Utah who are on probation and parole and to lower state spending.   According to the Deseret News: "We have a problem of mass incarceration," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, a Democrat. [...]

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    Utah might be the first state to allow self driving cars. The House Transportation Committee approved a bill that would make these cars legal throughout Utah. Some Utah lawmakers think this will help ease the amount of DUIs people are charged with when the new 0.05% DUI Law goes into effect. The new bill, HB371 is being sponsored by Representative Robert Spendlove, R-Sandy, and it is aimed [...]

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    The Utah detective who violently detained a nurse after refusing  to take a blood sample has been fired. A Salt Lake City police spokesman said that Jeff Payne had been fired in connection with incident on July 26th. Payne's supervisor Lt. James Tracy has also been fired over the incident as well. The Salt Police Department called Payne's conduct "inappropriate, unreasonable, and [...]

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    In Utah, while DNA samples may be taken at the time of arrest, the DNA itself is not processed until after a conviction. If charges are not pressed within 90 days of an arrest, or the case is dismissed or acquitted, the DNA evidence is destroyed. However, with other states enacting more stringent rules regarding when DNA is collected and how it is used, the U.S. Supreme Court is now looking at the[...]

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    Jurors tend to trust peace officers' testimony due to the authority that officers hold in the community. Additionally, prosecutors also tend to believe the officers' reports because officers are suppose to protect and serve and uphold the laws. Yet, could that trust be misplaced? In at least two cases, the answer is a resounding "yes."   One trooper has been accused of lying on the[...]

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    Sex offenders are fighting back against laws restricting their use of social networking websites and the Internet. And, some say, rightfully so and argue that a prohibition on their use of social media sites, chat rooms and other online discussions simply violates their constitutional First Amendment rights. The restrictions and prohibitions on the use of the internet by courts and states all [...]

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    The United States Supreme Court decided to hear an important case regarding defendants' constitutional rights to privacy. The case involved a man who was arrested for assault but, through DNA collected before he was convicted of the crime, was charged with an earlier rape. At trial, the man's criminal defense lawyer attempted to suppress the DNA evidence, claiming that it violated the Fourth [...]

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    Today, individuals everywhere are making a permanent mark of their activities every single day. Whether it's through cellphone texts, emails, Twitter, or Facebook posts, people can be tracked more so today than ever before. However, an article featured by the New York Times highlights some interesting information about surveillance surrounding electronic technology that many consumers are most [...]

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    Under the United States Constitution and the Utah Constitution, residents have a certain expectation of privacy. As part of their Fourth Amendment rights, this means residents of Utah should be protected against unreasonable searches and seizures from law enforcement and other authorities. Recently, Maine became the second state in the country to ban warrantless cellphone tracking. [...]

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    In Utah, a driver cannot be pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving and forced to submit to a blood test. Rather, police must first obtain a search warrant before ordering the blood draw. The issue of whether or not a drunk driving suspect's blood can be drawn without a warrant made its way before the U.S. Supreme Court last month. In the ruling, eight out of nine of the justices all[...]

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