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Understanding Probation in Wisconsin
The criminal law has a wide variety of different punishments it can impose for crimes. The ones that people think of most commonly are probably jail sentences and fines. However, these are not the only options. Another common option is criminal probation. Probation is a period of court-authorized supervision of the offender by the Department of Corrections. A person can be placed on probation for a variety of reasons For instance, some courts may choose to put a person on probation instead of sentencing them to prison. Other courts may hand down a prison sentence, but hold off on it to see if the person can successfully complete a period of probation.
Probation Basics
At its heart, probation is about supervision. A person on probation is still free. They can live at home, and keep their job. However, they will be subject to a variety of rules. One of the overarching rules is the need to meet with a probation agent, who supervises the person's probation. The frequency of the visits will depend on the specific case, and the location may change as well. These sorts of meetings may take place in the agent's office, at a person's work or school, or even at their home. However, this is not the only rule. People on probation will also likely be required to refrain from using controlled substances and avoid getting charged with another crime. The court may also set specific conditions of probation based on the crime in question. For instance, a person may need to attend drug and alcohol treatment programs, or make restitution to the crime's victim. These rules are important, and violations of them can result in a person being placed on a probation hold, which can have serious consequences.
Accidental Antitrust Violations
The notion of accidentally committing a crime can be hard for many people to swallow. After all, part of the reason that a society has a criminal justice system is to express moral disapproval for things beyond what a civil lawsuit, like a personal injury suit, can do. Much of that moral culpability stems from people's conscious decision to do the wrong thing. That can make criminal antitrust violations difficult to accept because many people accidentally run afoul of antitrust laws in the course of doing what may seem to them to be an ordinary, acceptable business practice.
Antitrust Basics
Antitrust law is the branch of law designed to promote healthy competition among rival businesses. This branch of law has several important statutes, but the most important is the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Act has two major sections for defining antitrust. One section punishes monopolies, companies that have a lock or near-lock on a market, and use that lack of competition inappropriately to drive up prices or keep out competitors. While the exact definition of an “inappropriate” use of market power is a difficult line to draw, this portion of antitrust is difficult to violate accidentally because most monopolists understand the position that they are in.
Types of Damages in Personal Injury Lawsuits
Many people think that a personal injury lawsuit is a success when the court decides that the defendant is liable for the accident, but that is not necessarily the case. After a finding of liability, the trial moves on to the damages phase, where the court determines how much money the defendant owes the plaintiff. In many ways, this part of the trial is most important. After all, winning the case only to have the damages fall short of covering the injury suffered would not really be a win at all. Fortunately, Wisconsin law makes a wide variety of damages available to injured plaintiffs. Plaintiffs may recover for their economic harms, for non-economic harms, and even punitive damages in some cases.
Economic Harms
Economic harms are the most straightforward type of damages. They are a subset of compensatory damages. The idea behind compensatory damages is to “make the plaintiff whole” again. This means that in an ideal world the plaintiff would be so well compensated for their injuries that they would be indifferent to the fact that the injury happened at all. In order to accomplish that, the law allows people to recover for a broad amount of economic harm.
Wisconsin Traffic Deaths Hit Historic Low
Wisconsin state officials are celebrating the continued trend of declining traffic accident deaths on Wisconsin roads. In fact, the last time Wisconsin streets saw as few deaths as they did in 2014 the year was 1943. That statistic is particularly impressive given how many fewer drivers there were on the road in the 1940s. In fact, some estimates put the number of drivers in the 1940s as just 10 percent of what they are today. Although a variety of factors may play a role in this trend of decreasing traffic fatalities, much of it appears to be attributable to drivers’ own increased caution and safe driving decisions.
The Statistics
Wisconsin traffic fatalities have been falling over the past two years. 2013 saw only 517 fatalities, and 2014 figures were even lower, registering just 482. In fact, this drop in traffic deaths is part of a larger trend. Other Midwestern states have been seeing similarly declining fatality rates. Traffic safety officials have put forward numerous different explanations for these positive numbers.
Wisconsin Frozen Road Law Goes into Effect
Winter driving brings a variety of hazards like slippery roads and decreased visibility. However, there is another less well-known danger that drivers should also be careful of, frozen road laws. Frozen road laws allow larger trucks to drive on certain roads that they would not ordinarily be licensed on. While this law allows trucks to perform road maintenance and keep drivers safe, motorists across the state should still be careful now that Wisconsin's frozen road law has gone into effect over all of its zones. Having larger trucks sharing the road can result in truck accidents, if drivers are not aware of how to protect themselves.
What the Frozen Road Law Is
The frozen road law is a law designed to make road maintenance easier. It permits trucks carrying certain wood products, salt, and sand for winter road work to ride on roads that they would ordinarily be too heavy for. The law permits trucks licensed up to 80,000 pounds to carry up to 98,000 pounds with no special permits. However, the law does not permit the trucks to use all roads. Most notably, the trucks are still not allowed on interstate highways if they were not before.
Understanding Federal Healthcare Fraud
The healthcare sector of the economy is a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing rapidly as a result of scientific advancements and an aging population. On top of this massive growth, the government has laid down complex regulatory and benefits systems over the industry. This combination of large amounts of money and bureaucracy has led some people to develop a new type of crime: healthcare fraud. The general idea behind healthcare fraud is that healthcare providers lie to the government about something in an effort to get paid more than they deserve, but that description does not do justice to the wide array of different things that qualify as healthcare fraud.
Types of Healthcare Fraud
The federal statute on healthcare fraud criminalizes a wide variety of conduct. Someone commits healthcare fraud when they either knowingly attempt to “defraud any healthcare benefit program,” or when they lie in order to get money from a healthcare benefit program. With such broad definitions, many things fall under the law's scope.
Types of Theft in Wisconsin
The law has a reputation for being at times needlessly complex and confusing. It is hard to find somewhere where this reputation is more deserved than the law of theft. At its heart, theft is the act of taking something that belongs to someone else, but the law of theft is much more complicated. It draws distinctions between many different things like theft, robbery and burglary.
The issue is that some of these distinctions are very sensible, but others are just historical accidents. Some of the distinctions arise because of the law's concern that certain types of theft are more dangerous to citizens or society. Others are the result of how the law of theft developed, as a result of arcane distinctions between different courts in medieval England. Fortunately, most of this latter type of distinction has been consolidated into the crime of theft under Wisconsin law.
Motorcycle Accidents in Wisconsin
Motorcycles have become more popular in the past ten years among Wisconsin residents. For every 100 residents, there are 5.9 registered motorcyclists and over 515,000 registered motorcyclists. With the increasing popularity of motorcycles, there has also been an increase in accidents. According to statistics in the 2012 Wisconsin Motorcycle Safety Facts Book, 112 motorcyclists or their passengers were killed in 2012. That is an increase of 40 percent from 2011. Failure to control the motorcycle and inattentive driving are the two leading causes of both fatal and non-fatal crashes. With more residents receiving their motorcycle endorsement, it is important to know what to do in case of an accident.
Collisions with Uninsured Motorists
Although no one likes paying their car insurance bills every month, that insurance coverage can end up being vital if a driver is involved in an accident. However, carrying car insurance is more than just a good idea. It is also required by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles. People who are at fault in a car accident and uninsured can see their licenses suspended if they do not find a way to pay the damages. However, despite this incentive, there are still plenty of people on the road who do not carry car insurance, and drivers should be aware of their options in case they end up involved in a car accident with an uninsured motorist, such as uninsured motorist (UM) insurance, looking for other potential defendants, and pushing forward with a lawsuit anyway.
Disclosing Exculpatory Evidence: When Prosecutors Have to Help the Defendant
The court system of the United States is often described as “adversarial.” This means that there are two sides in criminal cases - the prosecution and the defense - and that each side is representing the interests of their client. The prosecution works to prove a person's guilt on behalf of the government, and the defense works to prove their client's innocence. The idea is that with two competent sides advocating for their positions, the judge will be able to determine the truth.
However, this truth seeking function occasionally merits a break from the adversarial nature of U.S. courts. One important place where this break occurs is when the prosecution discovers exculpatory evidence. Exculpatory evidence is evidence that is beneficial to the defendant in a variety of ways. Under the U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland prosecutors have an obligation to disclose that sort of evidence to the other side. A failure to do so can result in a completely new trial in some circumstances.
