Law Librarian Blog

Staring at Glowing Rectangles

A new report published this week by researchers at Stanford University suggests that Americans spend the vast majority of each day staring at, interacting with, and deriving satisfaction from glowing rectangles. Details at 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles.

Meanwhile (but related) the latest findings of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project mark a departure from the stagnation in home high-speed adoption rates that had prevailed from December, 2007 through December, 2008. During that period, Project surveys found that home broadband penetration remained in a narrow range between 54% and 57%. An April 2009 survey, Home Broadband Adoption 2009, shows 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home. The growth in home broadband adoption occurred even though survey respondents reported paying more for broadband compared to May 2008. Last year, the average monthly bill for broadband internet service at home was $34.50, a figure that stands at $39.00 in April 2009. [JH]

JISC: Orphan Works Are Languishing Unused

JISC has released In from the Cold: An Assessment of the Scope of 'Orphan Works' and Its Impact on the Delivery of Services to the Public. A snip from the announcement:

The scale and impact of Orphan Works across the public sector confirms that the presence of Orphan Works is in essence locking up culture and other public sector content and preventing organisations from serving the public interest. Works of little and/or variable commercial value but high academic and cultural significance are languishing unused. Access to an immense amount of this material, essential for education and scholarship, is consequently badly constrained, whilst scarce public sector resources are being used up on complex and unreliable 'due diligence' compliance. Without any kind of UK or European Union-wide legal certainty, there will remain a major risk for all users of Orphan Works. The quantity of Orphan Works and their impact is only accelerating as content is being created and digitised without adherence to any single internationally recognised standard for capturing provenance information.

...

There are also suggestions that often [works are selected for digitisation based on the fact that they do not pose any copyright issues, thus creating a black hole of 20th century content. These issues stress the need for an informed and skilled public sector to deal with all the issues associated with copyright-related materials, the necessity for access to resources to deal with Orphan Works, and an informed and proportionate understanding of the nature of the risks associated with the use of these works.

Hat tip to Digital Koans. [JH]

States Strengthen Whistleblower Protection Laws

Many states are adopting new laws to protect their civil servants who report waste, fraud and abuse, according to a legal analysis released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). While the level of whistleblower protection varies widely across the country, several states are enacting safeguards that surpass those afforded to federal employees.

“Whistleblower laws are a telling measure of transparency and accountability,” stated PEER Staff Counsel Christine Erickson, who compiled recent state legislation. “These laws open secure channels for public servants to communicate with their true employers – the citizens who pay their salaries.”

PEER has completed a detailed analysis of every state’s laws, ranking each on 32 factors affecting the scope of coverage, usefulness and remedies.

• See which states have the strongest and weakest whistleblower laws
• Look at breakdown of whistleblower protection provisions among states
• View highlights of recent state legislation
• Find out about the whistleblower law in your state

Budget Concerns, Economic Development and Health Care Top Governors Priorities in 2009

The National Governors Association (NGA) has released an analysis of the Governors' Annual State of the State Addresses which reiterate the stark fiscal outlook most states are facing in 2009.

The Governors Speak 2009 summarizes the initiatives and legislation the nation’s governors emphasized during their annual addresses. The report demonstrates where the chief executives of the states believe their leadership is most needed and uses specific examples to articulate how they intend to accomplish their goals.

According to this year’s summary, “The tenor of the governors’ state-of-the-state addresses in 2009 was tempered by a sharp downturn in state economic conditions, challenging budget decisions and financial difficulties facing state residents. In fact, 79 percent of governors described difficult cuts or revenue short-falls that their state faced, more than double the 36 percent who did so last year."  [RJ} 

Local Government Gone Wild?

The Goldwater Institute has released "A New Charter for American Cities: 10 Rights to Restrain Government and Protect Freedom." The report recommends enacting a "Local Liberty Charter" consisting of 10 judicially enforceable rights to rein-in out-of-control local governments.

"The Local Liberty Charter is not a pledge signed by politicians," said Nick Dranias, Goldwater Institute constitutional policy director and author of the report. "It is meant to be enforceable in court by ordinary citizens. Each right would be implemented by policies that furnish a private right of action, empowering individuals to file lawsuits, when necessary, to compel local governmental officials to respect freedom and perform their legitimate responsibilities."  [RJ]

Tracking Achievement, Attainment, and Opportunity in America’s Public Schools

Education Watch has released a series of reports offering a state-by-state snapshot of public education in in the United states.  "These reports provide a sobering look at the challenging work that lies ahead,” said Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust. “One thing is clear: To secure our economic future, we must confront educational inequities head-on and ensure that every school in America is ready to help every student advance farther, faster."  Earlier editions are also available.  [RJ]

ACLU Releases Comprehensive Report On Patriot Act Abuses

The American Civil Liberties Union released a comprehensive report entitled Reclaiming Patriotism, which examines the widespread abuses that have occurred under the USA Patriot Act. In the almost eight years since the passage of the controversial national security law, the Patriot Act has led to egregious government misconduct.  

“From the gagging of our nation’s librarians under the national security letter statute to the gutting of time-honored surveillance laws, the Patriot Act has been disastrous for Americans’ rights,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “In the panic following the events of 9/11, our nation’s lawmakers hastily expanded the government’s authority to a dangerous level and opened a Pandora’s box of surveillance.”

[RJ}

New Report Card: Nation’s Mental Health Care System

The National Alliances on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released a new report, Grading the States, assessing the nation’s public mental health care system for adults and finding that the national average grade is a D.
Fourteen states improved their grades since NAMI’s last report card three years ago. Twelve states fell backwards.

“Mental health care in America is in crisis,” said NAMI executive director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. “Even states that have worked hard to build life-saving, recovery-oriented systems of care stand to see their progress wiped out.”

You can download the full report as well as methodology and policy recommendations.  [RJ]

State of the News Media 2009

This year’s report , from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, offers a general overview of the state of journalism as well as detailed examinations of the state of eight separate sectors (newspapers, online, network television, cable television, local television, audio, magazines, and ethnic media). The report also includes an in-depth content analysis, based on a study of nearly 80,000 news stories and television and radio segments in A Year in the News, which this year includes an Interactive Topline where people can explore the data for themselves.  [RJ]

Task Force on Discovery Releases Final Report

ACTL’s Task Force on Discovery and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System released their final report on proposed principles designed to treat the nation’s ailing system of civil justice.  The report includes a set of 29 proposed Principles that may one day underpin reform of the civil rules of procedure in both federal and state systems. 
Among the findings:

• The traditional “one size fits all” application of uniform rules to all cases, irrespective of nature and scope, no longer works; flexibility in applying specialized procedures to some cases should be permitted to promote more efficient and affordable outcomes
• The current system of pleading fails to provide an efficient mechanism for establishing claims or setting limits on the scope of discovery or trial; notice pleading should be replaced by fact-based pleading;
• Discovery costs far too much and has become and end in itself; discovery should be limited by proportionality, taking into account the nature and scope of the case, relevance, importance to the court’s adjudication, expense and burdens;
• The number of experts and the process for deposing them often significantly drives up costs; except in extraordinary cases, only one expert witness per party should be permitted for any given issue;
• Rotating judges managing a single case can undermine clarity and consistency; a single judicial officer should remain with a case throughout its life cycle.   [RJ]

Are Antiquated State Laws Fueling the Foreclosure Crisis?

A new report from the National Consumer Law Center entitled ""Foreclosing A Dream:  State Laws Deprive Homeowners of Basic Protections," identifies some of the most antiquated state law provisions, which are "tilted against homeowners" and acting as a little-understood factor that is helping to accelerate the U.S. home foreclosure crisis.

According to the NCLC report, examples of state laws tilted against homeowners include the following:

• "Fast track" foreclosure.
• No direct notification of foreclosure proceedings.
• No effort required to find solutions short of foreclosure. 
• Eleventh-hour payments can be ignored.   
• Heaping on of penalties that can send homeowners over the edge.
• More penalties even after home is lost and sold at auction.

NCLC also provides a comprehensive summary of state foreclosure laws.  [RJ]

The Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond

New research report from the Urban Institute:

"With the economy mired in the deepest recession in decades a drop in economic activity that has been compounded by continuing mortgage defaults, a historic decline in housing prices, falling equity values, illiquid credit markets, declining consumer confidence, and enormous and rapid job losses attention has shifted away from problems of fiscal balance. However, the most recent Congressional Budget Office baseline projection (2009a) reports a fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1,186 billion, or 8.3 percent of GDP, under the assumption that no new tax or spending policies are implemented. Including the recently enacted $787 billion stimulus package raises the 2009 deficit by roughly $185 billion (CBO 2009b). Either the baseline projection or the baseline-plus-stimulus would represent the largest deficit in dollar terms and as a share of the economy since World War II, as well as a stunning shift from the budget surpluses of a decade ago.

This paper discusses the impact of recent tumultuous economic events and policy interventions on the Federal fiscal picture for the immediate future and for the longer run. Because these events and policies are still unfolding rapidly, the paper will be updated over the next few weeks and months."  [RJ]

New Rockefeller Institute Report Examines State Budgets and the Federal Stimulus Package

While states will benefit greatly from the federal stimulus program state budget gaps still loom at the end of that period, according to a new report issued today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The report, What Will Happen to State Budgets When the Money Runs Out?, says that even under the most optimistic of scenarios, state tax collections will not return to pre-recession levels until well after the 2011-2012 fiscal year, when the bulk of new assistance for states will end. At that time, states will once again face severe budget gaps, the study finds.

“The economic and revenue picture for states is uncertain,” the report says. It adds, “Under any likely scenario, states will face significant budget problems when the new federal aid runs out.”  [RJ]

New Forensic Science Report

A report on the state of forensic science in the U.S. was released February 18 by a National Academy of Science/National Research Council committee. Links to a briefing and press release are here. The report, entitled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward,” identifies several shortcomings in U.S. forensic science, including a lack of standards for professionals, facilities, and techniques; misleading court testimony by forensic scientists; and a dearth of research into the limitations of forensic scientific methods.  The report’s recommendations include:

• creating a new, stand-alone federal agency, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish standards for forensic science practitioners, education, and facilities;
• establishing a standard terminology for forensic experts to use in court testimony;
• providing federal funds for research on the validity, reliability, and accuracy of forensic scientific techniques;
• cutting administrative and funding ties between government forensic laboratories and prosecutors’ offices;
• writing and enforcing a national ethics code for forensic scientists;
• establishing uniform standards for forensic death investigation;
• making fingerprint databases interoperable; and
• preparing forensic scientists for homeland security investigations.

[Robert Richards]

Foreclosure Stats from Realty Trac

RealtyTrac has released its January 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, The Report shows a 10 percent decrease in forecloures from the previous month but still up 18 percent from January 2008. The report indicates that one in every 466 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in January.  The report is broken down by state and national level.  Data is also available at the individual county level.  [RJ]

The Tuition Bubble

After years and years and years of tuition increases, can students and parent still afford a college education? Check out Squeeze Play 2009, The Public’s Views on College Costs Today. [JH]

Information Errors in Wrongful Convictions

Information errors have contributed to a substantial number of wrongful criminal convictions in New York State, according to a new report, released January 30 by the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Wrongful Convictions. See the news release. Among the causes of wrongful convictions identified are prosecution’s failure to correct false testimony and to disclose material evidence to the defense, the loss or destruction of material evidence, the ignoring of material evidence due to the too-early narrowing of an investigation, and errors in eyewitness investigation.  The report bases many of its recommendations on empirical scholarly research into these problems.  Among the recommendations are that eyewitness identification procedures be reformed along the lines advocated by scholarly researchers, and that evidence be cataloged, barcoded, stored, and preserved using the most current technology. [Robert Richards].

Beckman Center Report on Protecting Minors Online

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society has released the final report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies.The Report finds that "risks minors face online are complex and multifaceted and are in most cases not significantly different than those they face offline, and that as they get older, minors themselves contribute to some of the problems." The Report recommends that Attorneys General should not "endorse any one technology or set of technologies to protect minors online. Instead, the Attorneys General should continue to work collaboratively with all stakeholders in pursuing a multifaceted approach to enhance safety for minors online. [JH]

Trends in College Spending Where Does the Money Come From? Where Does It Go?

A new report entitled "Trends in College Spending Where Does the Money Come From? Where Does It Go?", from the Delta Project, examines revenue spending for nearly 2,000 public and private non-profit colleges and universities (representing more than 75 percent of higher education enrollment).  The report looks at recent trends, focusing on the period from 2002 to 2006, providing a comprehensive assessment of higher education finance in the nation.  [RJ]

The Urban Institute Talks Recession

The Urban Institute has released six new briefs show how Americans have fared during and after downturns since the 1970s, what might be ahead, and how government programs aid those in distress.

1. Unemployment and Income in a Recession
2. Unemployment Insurance during a Recession
3. The Role of Welfare during a Recession
4. SNAP and the Recession
5. The Recession and the Earned Income Tax Credit
6. Health Coverage in a Recession

[RJ]