Life of the Law

When prisoners act out, they get put in solitary confinement -- the penal version of go to your room and think about what you've done.  But for the women that reporter Annie Brown talked to with histories of trauma, being in solitary confinement was more like go to your room and think about what’s been done to you.

Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered before he could stand trial for the assassination of JFK. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying to get him into a courtroom, over and over again.

Amateur sleuths armed with their own laptops, public information and a lot of spare time are working alone and in groups to crack criminal cases. Sometimes it works and sometimes it goes very, very badly.  Welcome to the future of crowdsourced law enforcement. 

Are aggressive, expensive elections corrupting the court system? Or are they evidence of a strong democracy? 

Recreational pot has earned the state of Colorado $53 million dollars in tax revenue. All on a drug that, according to federal law is still illegal. How does a marijuana business navigate all the uncertainty? 

Exotic dancers, on-call drivers, and writers might have a different name for what they do -- freelancing, part-time work and independent contracting -- but it all means the same thing. Work that doesn’t start at 9 and end at 5. And sure, it has its perks, but do 1099 workers have protections? 

A triple murder, a habitual liar on a stolen motorcycle and a confession that doesn’t add up. Why would anyone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? On Life of the Law, the story of a man dying of cancer on Texas’s Death Row who confessed to a crime he says he didn’t do. 

Pregnant with options. There’s the stroller, the crib, and the adorable baby clothes. And, for more than 50,000 women each year birthing plans also include choosing the right midwife even in states where birth by midwife is not legal.

When things go bad all you need to do is pick up the phone and CALL. Or so lawyers like Saul on AMC’s new series tells us. Since the US Supreme Court allowed lawyers to advertise in the 1970s, practices like these have skyrocketed, with often shoddily-produced results. Are tacky lawyer ads trashing the profession or simply making it more easily accessible to those who might not otherwise know who to call when they need an attorney?

In the 1980's, the world's two largest diaper companies set out to destroy each other, in a patent battle known as the Diaper Wars. The court battles lasted seven years and cost millions of dollars. What did we get out of it? Better diapers -- and one very messy lesson in patent law.

The internet is anonymous. Except for when it isn't. When someone wants to hurt you, they can find your address and other personal information and post it online, inviting others to harass you, stalk you, or worse. And thanks to minimal regulation of the Internet, there may not be a whole lot you can do about it. 

Freedom of speech is a right guaranteed in the first amendment of the constitution. One exception to the rule is obscenity. But determining what is obscene is difficult – especially for those making it.

Life of the Law looks back over some of our favorite stories from the year: The ones that left us hopeful. Over the past year, we’ve found the law in places as different as comedy clubs, bedrooms, even in our own consciences.

How long would your relationship last without a kiss or more than a kiss? In America, only three states allow prisoners and their spouses or domestic partners to have extended family visits, also known as conjugal visits or, on the inside, “booty calls.” They have privacy and they have sex. This is the story of one couple and the 48-hour conjugal visit they share once a month inside San Quentin State Prison. 

Podcasts Life of the Law & Destination DIY team up to examine the legal grey area occupied by the sharing economy. How are cities grappling with these increasingly popular, disruptive, peer-to-peer business models?