Internet sex crimes: How easy it is to get into trouble
The internet can be a strange place. Both impossibly vast and able to help people connect like never before, it’s also a minefield for the unwary. Most people don’t realize just how easy it is to end up charged with a sex crime due to their internet activities — especially when they haven’t even had...
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What is the obstruction of justice?
The phrase “obstruction of justice” is bandied about in the news a lot these days, so we thought it might be informative to discuss exactly what this phrase means — and why it is considered a crime. Obstruction of justice is, essentially, an offense against the entire judicial process. It’s loosely defined as any action...
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Should convicts serve the community instead of serving time?
When someone in Missouri is convicted of a crime, they might face imprisonment or steep fines depending on the offense. But judges have alternatives to sending someone to jail. And this year marks the 35th anniversary of one state program that focuses on rehabilitation over incarceration. Court dockets in Springfield were overflowing with traffic, misdemeanor and...
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3 standardized field sobriety tests you may face
Police officers have several ways to determine if a driver is impaired during a traffic stop. One of these is the use of sobriety tests. While there are many performed across the country, there are only three specific tests that comprise the standardized field sobriety test. This battery of tests is endorsed by the National Highway...
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Missouri’s tiered sex offender registration
In 1994, a federal law was passed that mandated the enactment of a sex offender registry program. Since then, numerous other laws have been passed at both the federal and state levels that have added onto this original ruling. In Missouri, some updates have taken place as recently as the summer of 2018. According to...
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Examining Missouri’s self-defense laws
Most in Springfield likely never picture themselves being involved in a confrontation (let alone being placed in a position where they had to resort to force to defend themselves. Yet such altercations do indeed happen, as evidenced by the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there are roughly 2 million incidents of...
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