Regular readers may have noticed that I fell down on the job and didn't get a post up on Wednesday. Sorry about that! It's been a busy week with the various court officials' conferences. But it's also been busy in the wider world: 1. The North Carolina Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section is preparing for its annual awards dinner. Each year, the section honors one prosecutor with the Peter Gilchrist Award and one defense attorney with the Wade Smith Award. This year's winners are Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby and Raleigh defense attorney Joe Cheshire. The dinner will take place at the Grandover Hotel near Greensboro, on Thursday, November 17. All are invited, and it should be an interesting evening with remarks from the honorees and with a number of notables in attendance. More information is available here. (Full disclosure: I'm involved in the section.) 2. Nationally, the single most interesting story that I saw this week was this Gallup poll, which found that 50% of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana, up from 46% last year and more than the 46% who oppose legalization. Note that the poll wasn't about medical marijuana, which commands even greater support, but rather flat-out legalization. Looking at the trend lines, which you can do by clicking the link, and in light of the fact that "[s]upport for legalizing marijuana is directly and inversely proportional to age, ranging from 62% approval among those 18 to 29 down to 31% among those 65 and older," [...]
Faculty Coordinators
