National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

A computer forensics project supported by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ), federal, state, and local law enforcement, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) , The National Software Reference Library (NSRL) was designed to collect software from various sources and includes a Reference Data Set (RDS) of information.

The RDS can be used for review of files on computers by matching file profiles in the RDS. This will help alleviate much of the effort involved in determining which files are important as evidence on computers or file systems that have been seized as part of criminal investigations. The list is a collection of digital signatures of known, traceable software applications. There are application hash values in the hash set which may be considered malicious, i.e. steganography tools and hacking scripts.

The Florida Anti- Abortion Murder Act of 20??

This is not one of those posts that will please everyone. There is a critical abortion issue that must be addressed in the public forum, for this issue may arise before we have had time to debate it. Therefore, we must hold this debate now.

This issue comes in to play only if the United Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade and allows states such as Florida to make abortion illegal.

Here is the problem no one is talking about: What is the penalty?

Think about this carefully, regardless of your position. Here is the logical line of reasoning and where it leads.

1) What is the argument that posits abortion should be made illegal?

ANSWER: Abortion should be illegal because it is the murder of an unborn child.

2) What is the penalty for premeditated murder?

ANSWER: Florida Statute Section 782 states that the penalty is death or life in prison.

If some future Anti-Abortion Murder Act is passed, then the abortion murder sentence must be life or death. There is no logical way to make abortion an act of premeditated murder without a life or death sentence.

You noticed that I said "logical" and correctly point out that politicians are not always logical. Many have a tenuous connection to logic, at best. Yet what happens to our society if some future Anti-Abortion Murder Act passes?

Either 1) we have a murder statute section where the entire logical justification for it is a lie, or; 2) we imprison or execute doctors, women who have abortions, the nurses who assist and even the sister who drove the woman to the doctor.

I warned you that this post wouldn't be pretty.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb
CobbLawFirm.com

NOTE: After this post was completed, I received a comment that caused me to check out another post that intrigued me from one sentence: "Life is life OR it's not." This is striking because of the incisive nature of the logic behind yes or no questions - they get to the truth rather quickly because the fuzzy avoidance of hard choices is eliminated quickly, and an issue gets distilled to its essential question rather quickly.

How to Solve the Problem of Crime

Here is a cost neutral way to solve the social problem of crime.

When a criminal defendant is arrested, they are usually held until they see a First Appearance judge within 24 hours of arrest. At First Appearance, the judge will often determine bond issues.

First Appearance is often a criminal defendant’s first contact with the judicial system, their first contact with someone empowered to solve the problem of crime. First Appearance judges can:

1. Learn the patterns of mental illness that fly below the radar. Substance abuse is an obvious red flag. Driving on a suspended license isn’t, but should be.

2. Order a Diagnostic Psychological Evaluation as a condition of bond. Do not order cookie cutter treatment such as Batterer’s Intervention Program, Anger Management, AA or NA. Diagnosis first, treatment second.

3. Impose a condition that the defendant follow through with treatment as recommended while the case is pending. A limited medical release can be required for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this condition of bond.

The key to effective intervention is diagnosis first. The failure to properly diagnose criminal defendants is why Drug Court, Shoplifters anonymous, court ordered AA/NA and Anger Management counseling programs are statistical failures: The wrong treatment is often worse than no treatment at all.

A proper diagnostic evaluation is not a fifteen minute question and answer session with a counselor with a bachelor’s degree. Such a drive through diagnostic session is a waste of the counselor’s and the patient’s time. Yet this is exactly how most court ordered programs operate.

The best practice is one of two methods of diagnosis:

1. Medicine: A SPECT brain scan by a well-trained psychiatrist, such as those at Amen Clinic. However, it is too expensive for a judge to impose it as a condition of bond. As the technology becomes more available, that will change. A full imaging and follow through will cost around $4,000.00.

2. Psychology: A Mental Status Exam coupled with Advanced Psychometric Testing, such as the MMPI-II and the MCM-III. A full battery of tests can be done for about $750.00 – well within the means of most who want to get out of jail.

A diagnostic evaluation and follow through treatment is not with the means of every single criminal defendant. However, it is within the means of most. After all, the courts have been imposing treatment without adequate diagnosis for years.

Just look at well that system has worked.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephen G. Cobb
CobbLawFirm.com

A Special Note To Florida Criminal Defense Lawyers

This is a departure from my normal material due to the new conflict case system Florida has adopted. There are numerous posts elsewhere about how this will hurt indigent people charged with crimes, so I will not dwell on this important aspect. Instead, we will focus on that subject most lawyers hate: Law office economics.

Florida’s conflict case system was drastically altered to make it more “cost effective.” Many Florida criminal defense lawyers are freaking out because they rely on the conflict system for much of their income. There is now less conflict business at lower rates. Here is how smart lawyers will survive the new system:

1. Raise your fees. A “fee for any budget” price war will cause legal fees to be driven lower and lower – among lower priced criminal defense lawyers, not the best lawyers. Service will immediately decline, and your clients will be the ones who suffer most. FANTASY - "The legal fee doesn't affect the quality of legal service." REALITY - The legal fee directly affects the quality of criminal defense legal service.
2. Get off of the conflict list. The new rates pay less than minimum wage. Taking a case under this new system is tantamount to admitting 3.850 IAC. FANTASY - "The new system will be cost effective." REALITY - Taking cases for less than minimum wage is a 3.850 waiting to happen.
3. Raise your fees. My minimum fee is $5,000.00 – plus costs – for any criminal case, even a misdemeanor. Raising your fees may seem counter intuitive, as there will be more lawyers competing for private practice clients. However, raising your fees will actually work. Remember, your banker will repossess your house and your vehicle, but not your kids. You can’t help your clients if you can’t financially help yourself. FANTASY - "No one can afford high legal fees." REALITY - Some can, those are the ones you want as clients. If you and your secretary give up your salary and benefits, you can provide free legal service - and your clients will get what they pay for.
4. Get Board Certified or get out. In the criminal defense private market, you are either a specialist, or you are competing against one. FANTASY - "I don't need board certification because I am just as good." REALITY - You will get kille din the marketplace unless you are extremely savvy.
5. Raise your fees. Your time spent defending a client’s liberty will never be returned to you at the end of your life. These seconds become minutes. Minutes quickly become hours. Hour after hour, you are quickly approaching the end of your time allotted on this earth. Value your time, and your clients will value you.
6. Never take “payment plans.” You can always spot the “Budget fee, payment plan” criminal defense lawyers. They are routinely late for court, always have schedule conflicts, frequently continue cases in the foolish hope that they will be paid, and they always have the most difficult clients. I have seen them get disbarred. FANTASY - "People need payment plans, they don't have the money." REALITY - If you take payment plans, you will chase clients for fees. They have lenders - with lawyers - who specialize in that. You are a criminal defense lawyer, not an interest free lender.

When you are overloaded with too many clients, too many cases, too little time for yourself and your family, you are hurting your client’s lawyer. Performance suffers, people will get hurt.

FANTASY – “I am a professional, money does not matter.”

REALITY – You can't help your clients with legal matters if you can't help yourself with financial matters.

That's just how it is.

Respectfully submitted,
Stephen G. Cobb
FBN: 0835171

CobbLawFirm.com