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Criminal Practice
Criminal Practice Law360 provides timely news and analysis on criminal law and enforcement across U.S. jurisdictions. Coverage includes major prosecutions, sentencing trends, constitutional challenges, legislative developments, and key rulings impacting prosecutors, defense attorneys, and the courts.
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Latest News in Criminal Practice
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January 27, 2026
Colo. Defender Refused 'Reality' Of Overwork, Court Told
A former attorney at the Colorado public defender's office told a state court Tuesday that it underpays and overworks its employees and fired him for complaining about it, though the office responded that the reality of balancing public defenders' workloads is more nuanced than the study he cited suggested.
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January 27, 2026
Google's Allegedly Stolen AI Secrets Not Valuable, Jury Told
Former Google engineer Linwei Ding's counsel wrapped his defense case Tuesday, questioning a technical expert who told a California federal jury that the documents taken by Ding related to artificial intelligence supercomputers wouldn't allow someone to replicate Google's technology and had minimal value to competitors.
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January 27, 2026
Immigrants Sue ICE Over 'Intolerable' Calif. Detention Center
After launching a "sweeping dragnet" of immigration arrests in California, the Trump administration is subjecting people to "dangerous conditions and pervasive abuses" at a detention center in the Mojave Desert as part of its broader plan to intimidate and deport immigrants, according to a lawsuit filed in California federal court.
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January 27, 2026
6th Circ. Says Ky. Social Media Law Needs Closer Look
The Sixth Circuit on Monday determined that a trial court should not have blocked a Kentucky law requiring sex offenders to use their legal names on social media, ruling a lawsuit alleging the law amounts to a violation of freedom of speech needs a more "demanding, comprehensive" review.
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January 27, 2026
Texas AG Says Nurse Practitioner Is Shipping Abortion Drugs
The Texas attorney general told a state court that a Delaware-based nurse practitioner and the organization she operates have shipped abortion pills to Texas, saying Tuesday that the defendants have publicly acknowledged that they send abortion pills to the Lone Star State.
Areas of Coverage
- Influential appellate decisions in state supreme and federal circuit courts—especially those guiding trial strategy and evidentiary standards
- Developments in intermediate state appellate courts with potential to shape precedent.
- Federal, state, and local legislation or regulation impacting courts, prosecutors, and defenders.
- Developments from state attorneys general, including prosecutions, policy shifts, and personnel moves
- Criminal justice reform efforts and the impact on state and local prosecutions.
- Unique criminal cases at the trial court level, in state or federal court
- Civil appellate opinions affecting the criminal bar, such as rulings on qualified immunity.
- Innovations in criminal law education and defense training at law schools.
- Profiles of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and others impacting criminal law.
- Studies or reports on the work of state and local prosecutors or public defenders.
- AGENCIES
- State and local prosecutors’ offices
- Public defender offices
- DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility
- State bar associations and judicial conduct bodies
- POLICY & REGULATION
- Rules of Criminal Procedure in state and local courts
- Professional conduct standards for criminal attorneysDOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility
- State legislative initiatives in criminal prosecutions and defense
- ENFORCEMENT
- Misconduct investigations and disciplinary actions involving prosecutors and defenders
- PROFILES
- Profiles of individual prosecutors, public defenders and private criminal defense attorneys
- Profiles of firms and public offices
Readership
- State and local prosecutors
- State and local public defenders
- Criminal defense attorneys in private practice
- Criminal justice reform advocates
- Law enforcement professionals
- Appellate specialists
- Legal academics and students
- Attorneys specializing in appeals of criminal cases
- Judges and court staff in the criminal courts
- Staff in state attorney generals offices
- Staff at the DOJ, working in the criminal division