In June Preserve Marriage Washington [advocacy website] presented more than 200,000 referendum signatures to put Referendum 74 on the ballot, submitting the signatures and thus suspending the legislation one day before [JURIST reports] the law was scheduled to take effect. Gregoire signed the legislation less than a week after the state House of Representatives approved the bill, subsequent to the Senate having passed [JURIST reports] it two weeks before that. Gregoire has been a consistent advocate for gay rights during her tenure as governor. In April 2011 she signed a bill [JURIST report] that recognized as legal same-sex marriage licenses from other states. In March 2007 Gregoire signed legislation [JURIST report] that recognized domestic partnership status for same-sex couples.

The scams—which generally targeted the elderly and other vulnerable groups—included posing as victim's relatives in urgent need of money and falsely promising victims large cash prizes, various high-ticket items for sale over the Internet at deeply discounted prices or employment opportunities as "secret shoppers." In each case, the perpetrators required the victims to send them funds through MoneyGram's money transfer system. Despite thousands of complaints by customers who were victims of fraud, MoneyGram failed to terminate agents that it knew were involved in scams.

Friday's announcement was the latest development in the federal prosecution of fraudulent practices. Last week Wells Fargo [corporate website] claimed [JURIST report] that a lawsuit filed by the US government to recover money from defective mortgages was barred by a previous settlement. In September a federal judge approved [JURIST report] a settlement agreement between the DOJ and certain e-book publishers in a price-fixing suit. In late July a federal court granted [JURIST report] an emergency order freezing the assets of foreign brokers accused of insider trading. Earlier that month, the DOJ and pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline [corporate website] announced [JURIST report] a $3 billion dollar settlement in a series of criminal and civil healthcare fraud cases against the drug company.

In addition to setting forth reasons supporting his request for access to interviews with the professionals identified in his previous motion, this petition also requested that Applicant be granted access to information concerning him provided to the Board of Pardons by the common pleas court, the Department of Corrections, and others; that Applicant's counsel be permitted to interview current and former corrections officers in preparation for the clemency hearing; that the hearing be stayed until these requests were accommodated; and that Applicant's execution be stayed to ensure a fair and meaningful hearing.

US opinions on the death penalty [JURIST news archive] remain mixed. Earlier this week California voters rejected [JURIST report] Proposition 34, which would have repealed the practice in the state. In the wake of Connecticut's repeal of the death penalty [JURIST report] last April, Hotline contributor Ben Jones argued [JURIST op-ed] that "frustration with the practice had been growing for years." Connecticut became the seventeenth state to abolish the death penalty and the fifth to do so in the past five years. New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Illinois [JURIST reports] have all recently eliminated the death penalty, while 34 states retain its use.

As only the third employee of BLMIS, Irwin Lipkin had a long history with Bernie Madoff, and he proved himself to be a loyal foot soldier—consistently and repeatedly breaking the law at his boss' behest, and leaving as his legacy a successor he personally taught to continue cooking the books. And the benefits went both ways—Lipkin was able to enrich himself and his family through fake trades, and no-show jobs during his tenure and thereafter. Today's guilty plea marks another step forward in our efforts to prosecute and punish anyone and everyone who we can prove participated in this breathtaking fraud.

Lipkin is one of several former Madoff employees who have pleaded guilty to involvement in the Ponzi scheme. Madoff's brother, Peter, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in June of this year. In March Madoff trustee Irving Picard and the owners of the New York Mets reached a $162 million settlement [JURIST report] for victims of the Ponzi scheme to avoid a trial. Former outside accountant for Madoff, David Friehling, pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to fraud charges in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in November 2009. Madoff himself received a 150-year sentence [JURIST report]. Many of the sentences have included [JURIST report] appropriating money to victims of the scheme.

Discrimination and violence against women continues to be a global issue. In October the UN Working Group on discrimination against women [official website] urged governments around the world to repeal laws that criminalize adultery [JURIST report]. In September HRW urged Bangladesh to reform [JURIST report] their discriminatory personal laws governing marriage, separation and divorce. In June HRW called on the Sudanese government [JURIST report] to reform its discriminatory laws and abolish both the death penalty and all corporal punishment after a young Sudanese woman was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. In March HRW urged the Afghan government [JURIST report] to release about 400 women and girls who were imprisoned for "moral crimes," including flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence in addition to "zina," which is a sexual relationship outside of marriage due to rape or forced prostitution. In July 2011 UN Women [official website] released a report examining the persistent discrimination against women [JURIST report] around the world and concluded that the rule of law does not provide adequate protection for women in practice. A month earlier a UN Special Rapporteur stated that even the US is facing continued violence against women [JURIST report], especially poor, minority and immigrant women. In May 2011 the Council of Europe (COE) [official website] introduced [JURIST report] the first international convention to combat violence against women. In the same month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] urged Tunisia and Egypt [JURIST report] to ensure that women's rights receive constitutional protection.

Although there is evidence that Krajisnik has been rehabilitated and that the risk of his committing a new crime once released is low, Krajisnik was convicted of crimes of a very high gravity, involving widespread displacement of the non-Serb population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which caused great suffering. Moreover, Krajisnik will not have served two-thirds of his sentence until August 2013, and the practice of the Tribunal is to consider the eligibility of a convicted person only after he has served two-thirds of his sentence.

Since his transfer to the UK, Krajisnik had previously been denied early release twice, in July 2011 and July 2010. At Krajisnik's 2006 trial, the ICTY found him not guilty on a charge of genocide for which prosecutors had requested a life sentence [JURIST report]. He was instead sentenced to 27 years imprisonment. Krajisnik was initially indicted together with Biljana Plavsic [JURIST news archive], the former Bosnian Serb president, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2003 after testifying against Krajisnik. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [JURIST news archive], with whom Krajisnik worked closely, was arrested in 2008 and currently faces war crimes charges [JURIST reports] before the ICTY.

In May Barbier signed a case management order [JURIST report] outlining the structure for the upcoming trial of Gulf oil spill claims, scheduled for January 14, 2013. Barbier divided the trial into two phases. In phase one, or the "incident" phase, the court will address issues arising out of the various parties' conduct leading to the incident and appropriation of their negligence. Barbier gave preliminary approval [JURIST report] to the proposed settlement agreement earlier that month. In April BP and a group of plaintiffs' attorneys sought Barbier's preliminary approval on the settlement, which they had reached [JURIST reports] in March.

In August Loughner pleaded guilty [JURIST post] to 19 of 49 charges, including killing a 9-year-old girl and Chief Judge John Roll [NYT backgrounder] of the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website], as well as wounding Giffords. In ending an ongoing debate between prosecutors and defense counsel, the judge found that Loughner understood in court that he was responsible for opening fire during Giffords's local constituent meeting in an Arizona parking lot. Both sides then arranged Loughner's ensuing plea, which assuredly sidestepped the death penalty. Loughner was formally charged [JURIST report] with the Tucson shootings in January 2011.

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