Being arrested can be humiliating and harm your reputation. It doesn’t even matter if you’re innocent or guilty of the crime of which you’re accused – if friends, family, neighbors, or co-workers find out about your arrest, the damage is already done. Even if authorities got the wrong person, it can take a lot of time and a lot of headaches to get your name, community standing, and job back. If this unfortunate and frustrating [...]
Each day, trucks crisscross America’s highways, carrying goods from one location to the next. The drivers behind the wheel provide a crucial service and are often under a tremendous amount of pressure to reach their destination as quickly as possible. This pressure can lead to irresponsible, even reckless, driving that puts everyone on our nation’s roads at increased danger of being involved in an accident. Tennessee’s roads are no exception. In fact, according to a recent [...]
Prison is intended to be rehabilitative as well as punitive – especially for non-violent and first-time offenders. A prison sentence that is too long may only serve one of these goals. The United States has an overincarceration problem. We put a lot of people in prison – according to the World Prison Brief, the U.S. ranks among the top countries for total prison population, second only to China – and we keep them there too long. [...]
It’s no secret that driving — or even riding on — a motorcycle comes with its fair share of risks. That is part of the thrill, after all. Those who choose to ride motorcycles accept those risks gladly because the joy of the experience makes it all worth it. Besides, there are safe ways to operate motorcycle; classes and licenses exist for that very reason. However, due to the popularity of “cool” figures riding motorcycles in [...]
In today’s day and age, law enforcement have a wide variety of advanced technology to assist them in determining whether a person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol while driving. One might assume that with such tools at their fingertips, any guesswork would be out of the running in deciding the guilt of the accused. However, despite these advancements, law enforcement still uses the unscientific approach of drug recognition experts, or DREs. These [...]
When we are in a car, there is some protection offered by the vehicle itself. Unlike a pedestrian, bicyclist, or motorcyclist, drivers of (and passengers in) sedans or trucks are surrounded by thick, hard metal that may offer some shielding against an object or other vehicle that it crashes into. While it can provide that protection during minor crashes, in more severe accidents, the car itself can become a dangerous weapon surrounding you. The steering wheel [...]
As of 2019, Tennessee prisons housed over 25,000 prisoners spread across 11 different facilities. The offenders vary in degree, but almost all of them work different jobs within those facilities at some point during their sentences. While helping convicts prepare for working after their release is undoubtedly a positive, poor conditions and an overall lack of choice lends to a far less savory idea — specifically, the idea that offender labor is nothing more than a [...]
As the pandemic slowly winds down, people are starting to travel again. We’re seeing an increase in the number of tourists here at home, and it’s safe to assume that other states are experiencing an influx of visitors as well. Some of them – like Illinois and Virginia, perhaps – may see some of our residents popping over the border for a very specific purpose: to get their hands on some legal marijuana. “Weed tourism” as [...]
Cult movie Final Destination 2 had a lot of highlights, but it’s most known for how it traumatized its collective audience with its infamous log truck scene. More of us than may want to admit move one lane over whenever they’re driving behind a cargo truck now (especially if the cargo is logs). But horror movie aside, this isn’t that paranoid of a practice. Cargo trucks really are scary. Or, rather, they can be in the [...]
When you’re charged with any sort of crime, the prosecution and court as a whole work as hard as possible to prove your alleged guilt — even if none exists. Ideally, everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty, but guilty treatment often starts much sooner than conviction. This prejudice and unjust behavior against defendants can easily lead to a violation of their rights. The prosecution may spin stories, put too much faith in the [...]
