The Legal System Channel features information related to how society deals with crime, criminals and law enforcement. Learn more about how governments operate their legal systems.
Topics to Explore:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to reinstate mandatory minimum prison sentences. But do they really deter future criminals, or do they proportionately affect certain groups instead?
Research shows that nicotine residue lingering in furniture and carpets may be hazardous to kids. Could that mean legal action for unsuspecting homeowners and tenants?
By Dave Roos
The TSA can open your checked bags at an airport. But how deep can they dig into electronic devices they find inside?
Advertisement
The divisive serial comma finally got its day in court—it was glorious.
Antarctica belongs to no one nation. So what happens in the event of a crime?
By Dave Roos
While the press often gets a beating from the public and politicians, journalists have brought to national attention lots of issues that would otherwise remain hidden.
The U.S. has thousands of prisoners in solitary confinement. But experts are now saying it does more harm than good.
Advertisement
If someone is insulting you or your family and you clock 'em, can you get away with it, legally?
By Dave Roos
Companies are actually hoping you won't read these 8,000-word documents before you click "agree." But why?
By Dave Roos
According to new research, shootings pass from person to person like a contagious disease.
Good Samaritan laws are intended to protect you from a lawsuit if you help strangers during an emergency. But they may not protect you in every situation.
Advertisement
Should you ever find yourself in the middle of a protest, you're going to want to avoid being targeted by one of these 'less-lethal' weapons.
By John Donovan
Some serial killers have murdered more than 100 people. Who are these people, and why did they do it?
Inmates have been using cigarettes as currency for more than a century in U.S. prisons. So what's behind the switch to ramen cups at one prison?
By Robert Lamb
The Supreme Court has ruled in a big Fourth Amendment case that under certain circumstances, evidence found during an illegal stop could be used in legal proceedings.
By Ben Bowlin
Advertisement
With more drug companies refusing to allow their drugs to be used in executions, states have turned to riskier pharmaceuticals.
By Dave Roos
Bigoted requests aren't as rare as you might think in hospitals. It's also not rare for hospitals to accommodate such requests. Why?
By Julia Layton
After nearly two decades as a judge, the Supreme Court nominee's record offers few clues as to where he stands on many social issues.
By Julia Layton
It's not quite what you'd expect, is it?
Advertisement
Free speech is one of America's most fiercely guarded freedoms, but that doesn't mean that citizens can say whatever they like with no threat of punishment. In several cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of limitations.
From 2011 to 2013, California released 33,000 prisoners early. One study measures the impact non-violent prisoner "realignment" has had on crimes rates in the state.
By Chris Opfer
We explore the economics and ethics of prison-made goods.
By Dave Roos
After you get a speeding ticket, you've probably mumbled (after the police officer left, of course) something about being stopped to satisfy a quota. Well, you're probably right. Lots of police departments have speeding ticket quotas.
Advertisement
After you get a speeding ticket, you've probably mumbled (after the police officer left, of course) something about all this being some kind of racket. Well, you're probably right. Many police departments depend on traffic ticket revenue.
This tragic cold case occurred during the Eisenhower administration, but was not solved until the Obama administration. Why did it take 55 years, and what finally cracked it?
By Alia Hoyt