Archive for January 11th, 2011

And while I’m on the legal beat…

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Alex Tabarrok, one of the Marginal Revolution bloggers, has an interesting article in the latest Wilson Quarterly about the economics of bounty hunting.

In Philadelphia, where commercial bail has been regulated out of existence, The Philadelphia Inquirer recently found that “fugitives jump bail . . . with virtual impunity.” At the end of 2009, the City of Brotherly Love had more than 47,000 unserved arrest warrants. About the only time the city’s bail jumpers are recaptured is when they are arrested for some other crime. One would expect that a criminal on the lam would be careful not to get caught speeding, but foresight is rarely a prominent characteristic of bail jumpers. Routine stops ensnare more than a few of them. When the jails are crowded, however, even serial bail jumpers are often released.

Edited to add: Just for grins, I thought I’d throw in a couple of links to Paladin Press books on bounty hunting, such as “Rex Venator”‘s Modern Bounty Hunting: A Real-Life Guide for the Bail Fugitive Recovery Agent. Holy cow! You can get Paladin Press books on your Kindle now? Man, this is a great country.

Poor Laura Hall…

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

turned down for parole in her latest bid.

(Previously.)

TMQ watch: January 11, 2011.

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Nudity! Gambling! This week’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback! Now!

(more…)

Obit watch: January 11, 2011.

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Both of these broke yesterday, but I was waiting until I found some better sources before posting:

Peter Yates, director. Lawrence and I were discussing his rather interesting career yesterday. Yates directed such films as Bullit, The Dresser, Breaking Away, and The Friends of Eddie Coyle. He also directed The Deep, Mother, Jugs & Speed, and Krull. (And let’s not forget The Hot Rock, one of the better adaptations of a Donald Westlake Dortmunder novel.) (LAT obit.)

Richard Winters, of Band of Brothers fame. (WP obit.)

I haven’t had much to say about events in Arizona, and probably won’t. Other people are covering this much better than I am; you can pretty much click on any blog in my blogroll for commentary. If you have to pick one, Battleswarm seems to be doing good roundups.