Lots of interesting stuff this week. Without further ado: 1. The front page of the News and Observer today has a story that begins as follows: "Someone accused of killing a white person in North Carolina is nearly three times as likely to get the death penalty than someone accused of killing a black person, according to a study released Thursday by two researchers who looked at death sentences over a 28-year period." The News and Observer article quotes lawyers on both sides, saying what one would expect. I can't find a copy of the study itself online. If anyone knows where it can be found, please let me know and I'll post a link. (It may not be anywhere, yet. One of the articles I saw about it said that it was to be published in the North Carolina Law Review next year. But given that the study was "released," I'm hoping that it is publicly available somewhere.) 2. The governor has signed House Bill 80, the electronic sweepstakes ban about which I wrote here, but also made public remarks recently suggesting that she would be open to a legal, regulated sweepstakes industry so long as it was devoid of "profiteering." 3. Having a sex offender in the neighborhood is a downer for lots of reasons. But this new paper, available on SSRN, quantifies one of the concerns: a 9% reduction in property values. (Hat tip: Sentencing Law and Policy.) 4. Former Solicitor General Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme [...]
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