Tennessee Criminal Lawyers

Governor Bill Haslam unveiled a crime package this week with a ticket of $6 million. He said the cost will be included in the budget sent to the legislature this month. Much of the cost is attributed to increased incarceration costs of his plan, though the package recommends several changes. [read more]

The Nashville police are going after a group of people who routinely get arrested. Known as Chronic Booking Offenders, these people are those who are frequently arrested and seen as a burden on the jail, the police, and the taxpayers. The problem is that most of those designated as chronic offenders are homeless and battling severe addiction. While their arrests and subsequent jail sentences may get them off the streets for a longer period, some are saying the program does nothing to lessen the problem in the long run. [read more]

It’s common when tragedy strikes for the public (and elected officials) to look for someone to blame. High profile criminal cases are a prime example of this. Not only do we want to blame the suspect, but we look to blame a flaw in the system as well, and then quickly change things in the name of “prevention”. [read more]

Governor Bill Haslam signed a controversial piece of legislation into law last week making it a misdemeanor offense to post some photos anywhere online that could potentially cause emotional distress to someone. The bill adds language to the current harassment law, which already includes sending emotional distressing messages to a particular person via the telephone or other forms of communication. [read more]

Search warrants won’t have to be completely error-free in Tennessee when a new law takes effect July 1. In the past and in many other states, a small error on the search warrant could result in the evidence seized being thrown out of court. Now lawmakers have determined that the protection of personal rights might have to take a back seat to the goals of law enforcement, at least in some cases. [read more]

The Nashville Metro Police Department made national headlines last year when it was discovered they were dropping a significant number of cases, more than they were making arrests on. Now, however, Metro Police are getting their numbers up and while a spokesperson says they haven’t made any procedural changes, the negative attention no doubt played a role in the about-face. [read more]

Over the past five years, crime in the city of Memphis has dropped 25%. And while the city is excited about that, they aren’t the only ones paying attention. A group of individuals from the federal government were in Memphis this past week to take a look at what’s working and what the city might need help with to continue their success in crime prevention. [read more]

Numerous domestic complaints are handled every week by police across Tennessee. But not all of the complaints amount to a crime. Without a crime, these complaints aren’t included in statewide crime statistics. Proposed legislation could tighten the reins on domestic violence reports and give the people of Tennessee a more accurate picture on the prevalence of domestic violence. [read more]

A little known side effect of high unemployment and a poor economy has been the mounting uncollected fines and fees in the local criminal courts. In Davidson County alone there’s an estimated $290 million in uncollected monies from the past ten years, with much of it mounting since 2007 when the economy first started faltering. [read more]

Over Thanksgiving weekend, the Memphis Police received 422 calls for domestic violence incidences. And as this article from the Commercial Appeal points out, that’s just the ones who actually called for help. The holidays are notorious for increased domestic violence incidences, though all signs point to this year being particularly bad. [read more]