Criminal Law Review

Fraud is very widespread today, and if you’re not careful, you might find yourself victimized by deceitful individuals. Whether at home, outside, online, or even through your mailbox, scammers can rob you of your finances, without noticing anything. Unless you practice constant vigilance, you might find yourself in one of these fraudulent traps.

Here are several helpful tips on how to prevent fraud.

Credit Card Fraud Prevention

Debit, ATM and credit cards changed the way people do business, purchases and handle money, providing convenience and safety. Unfortunately, they can be causes of fraud, if not properly used.

* Pick a PIN (Personal Identification Number) that you can remember, but isn’t very obvious. Don’t use birthdates, phone numbers, repetitive digits and house numbers.

* Don’t let anyone know your PIN. If you must write it down, put it on a slip of paper, and hide it. Never keep it in your wallet or purse, along with your card.

* Shred your bank statements before throwing them in the trash. Sometimes, identity thieves go through your trash to get your account number and use it to access your account.

* Don’t forget to get your card back after making a purchase.

* If you can, get your bank statements online. Remember, when doing online bank transactions, make sure you’re using a private PC. Don’t access your account in public places like Internet cafes and libraries.

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* Sign the back of your cards.

* When entering your ATM PIN, shield the keypad with your hand.

* Always know where your cards are. Keep your purse or wallet safe at all times. If it’s lost, call the bank immediately.

* Don’t allow anyone to use your cards.

Phone Fraud Prevention

Even a simple phone call can make you a victim of fraud, without you noticing anything. Usually, scammers look for unsuspecting criminals that provide them with information like bank account number, birth dates, and Social Security number. This is why you must be vigilant when suspicious people call you up and ask for these and other personal information.

Hang up if:

* You don’t know the person you’re talking to, and yet he or she is asking personal questions about you.

* The caller says you’ve won a prize, and to claim it, you must give personal facts for verification.

* The caller asks for your date of birth, credit card numbers, SS number and bank account number.

* The caller claims he or she is from your bank, and asks for your account number. Most banks don’t call and ask personal information over the phone, so be suspicious of this.

Mail Fraud Prevention

E-mail has now replaced the traditional snail mail, but there are still plenty of people who use this communication system. Unfortunately, snail mail has a number of flaws that allows it to become a way for scammers to trick other people.

* Be aware of your billing cycles and card statements, SS checks, and pension payments.

* Always empty your mail as soon as you receive it.

* Install a locking mailbox, if possible.

* If you suddenly stop receiving bank statements or if they arrive delayed and obviously tampered, call the post office immediately.

* Don’t send a check to respond to a sweepstakes mail. If you must send one to a charity, make sure you’re very familiar with that charity.

Check Fraud Prevention

Aside from cash and credit cards, Many people rely on checks nowadays when doing purchases or transactions. Check fraud is easy to commit, though, if not given proper attention.

* See if your checks have security features that can prevent fraud. See the list of security features on the back.

* Keep your checkbook hidden in a safe place at all times, as well as canceled and cashed checks. Don’t leave them lying around.

* Avoid putting too much personal information on your checks.

* When you get new checks from the bank, look through your checkbook and make sure the numbering sequence hasn’t been broken.

* Avoid making your checks payable to cash, and make sure you don’t sign a check until you’re already inside bank premises.

* Remember, marker ink pens and ballpoint pens can be washed off. Use a gelpen instead, when signing checks.

* Don’t leave fields like “Amount” or “Pay to the order of” blank.

Being careful about your accounts and personal information is a must in our world today. Always be vigilant, and keep the tips above to avoid fraud and prevent scammers from getting the best of you.

Before I commence this page of outstanding information, I want to emphasise that this page is for information intentions solely. I am by no means an attorney or a member of any Bar Association of any state. With that in mind, I have read a great deal about DUI (driving under the influence) laws across umpteen states. This post will concentrate on two components. The first being about DUI practices of law, the second element will centre on frequent legal strategies utilised by DUI defense attorneys.

DUI is an acronym for driving under the influence of alcohol. The acts also well-known as driving while intoxicated, drink-driving, drinking and driving, and drunk driving. In most states DUI can not only be defined as driving under the influence of alcohol but driving under the influence of other drugs. In a number of states DUI is also called DWI, which is an acronym for driving while intoxicated. These two acronyms are used depending on which state you are prosecuted in. What is essential to note about DUI is that it is not a soft moving violation or parking fine. It is a serious crime and is hence a criminal offense in all US states and in most countries worldwide.

In years past, a person would be charged with a DUI primarily based on a patrol officers observances of the charged person’s driving symptoms. These driving symptoms include driving action such as weaving or swerving, racing or tailgating. A suspect would be pulled over, and subjected to a field sobriety test. This test could include walking on a white line heel-to-toe or standing on one leg for some time. These subjective observations by the arresting officer would be utilised to charge the person and later employed as evidence in a court of law. Now in the United States of America, police use a a good deal more scientific approach when charging and prosecuting with a DUI in a court of justice.

Today’s methods are a scientific test for an individual’s blood alcohol content (BAC). This test is now common in virtually all states in charging somebody for driving under the influence. Mainly this new standard objectively can find out if an individual was intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle. BAC is calculated as a simple percentage of alcohol in an individual by weight. Now, as it has been for a number of years, it is prohibited in the entire country to drive with a BAC that is 0.08% or higher. Now that BAC is the main element in most legal cases in establishing the soberness of an individual, the testing equipment is normally the keystone in rendering the proper BAC of a person. What I mean to say, is that defense lawyers ordinarily assault the validness of these exams if a known model of a screening device is used, that is not sound.

A DUI defense attorney knows what examining device at hand has a weak track record and usually employs this selective information to invalidate the BAC test, and have his defendant’s case discharged.

The law enforcement agency will work under laws that prevent them from arresting you without a proper legal basis. They must observe the regulations so as to gain evidence against you. If they do not observe these rules when acquiring evidence, the evidence may not be used in court, even if the evidence proves that you are guilty. An excellent DUI defense lawyer will be either certified or understand the national Highway traffic safety administration standardized field sobriety test. If a defense attorney soundly knows this standardised exam then he will be able to break apart the way in which your DUI case was investigated by the arresting officer.

It may seem inconsequential but recalling the day of your arrest is also paramount to your defense strategy. Questions such as, what did you eat? Where were you going? Who were you with? May be asked by both your defense attorney and from the prosecution. These questions can support you of whether the chemical test outcome may be irregular.

The chemical exam may be incorrect and the instruments are only as good as the people who use them. There are three main types of breath tests utilised by most police force departments in the country. The Breathalyzer, The Intoxilyzer and The Intoximeter. The most popularly known of the three is the Breathalyzer, which is quite obsolete. Police now chiefly use the last mentioned two pieces of instruments. A frequent error when using these tests is “mouth alcohol contamination,” or as some defense lawyers have called the belch defense. The instruments are supposed to test the amount alcohol in the air of the suspect’s lungs.

However, before this air can be screened, it accrues through a person’s mouth. If for example an individual burps before the test is administrated, the mouth can be comprised of undiluted alcohol from the stomach. This sample would therefore be contaminated and give a false reading. In training, Police Officers are to have an observance period of at least twenty minutes to verify that the individual did not drink a beverage, smoke, or burp, etcetera. This is where a satisfactory attorney can show that there was no observance period, by asking the accurate timing of varied tasks such as readying up the machine, talking with other police officers and readying up paperwork. This police officer would have to explain the exact length of time of the observance period.

As you can see there are a list of defense strategies, a DUI defense attorney can engage in to make sure your case is dropped or to find you not guilty of DWI. I hope this is a good primer on the definition and legal schemes that a defense lawyer might use in a court of law.

It’s 4:00 a.m. and you are fast asleep. Loud pounding on your front door startles you to quickly try to awaken. You go to see who is there. Two very serious looking men dressed in shirts and ties show their badges to the peep hole in the door. They are the police. Adrenalin rushes through your circulatory system but you unlock the door and ask them what is wrong. They say they are investigating a crime in the neighborhood and ask you to drive down to the police station to tell them what you might know about the crime.

You think, “Aren’t they supposed to read me my rights? I have seen that dozens of times on T.V.” You don’t know what to do. You don’t want to be impolite. They are the authorities. You guess that you must comply with their request. So you ask if you can get dressed first. Then, hoping to make it easy on yourself, you give up your rights and do what they tell you to do.

The first thing you need to understand is that the police are not always required by law to give you your rights when they want you to talk to them. In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), the U.S. Supreme Court decided the landmark case concerning when and under what circumstances the U.S. Constitution requires police to advise a suspect of the right to silence and right to consult with an attorney prior to answering police questions.

Police are not always required to read you your rights under the Miranda decision. When police come to the scene of a crime and make an arrest but they do not want to talk to the person they will not read him his rights. If the police stop you on the street and begin questioning you and you volunteer to answer them, this is called a consensual encounter . They don’t need to read your Miranda rights. If they ask you to voluntarily go to the station and talk to them, even if it is tape recorded, they don’t need to give you your rights first under Miranda.

Does this sound strange to you? Well, here is the two minute wrap up on Miranda. Basically, the Miranda decision requires that whenever there is custodial interrogation the police must first advise the person of his 5^th amendment rights to silence and counsel. If they fail to read and get a valid waiver of those rights, the statement will be suppressed by the trial court. That statement or confession will not be admitted into evidence at trial.

• Is the Person In Custody?

First, the court will determine whether you were in custody . That depends on a number of factors. Were you told by police that you are under arrest? Were you handcuffed and placed into the police vehicle? Were you free to walk off or leave? If you were taken to the station did you drive yourself there freely and voluntarily? If you were talking voluntarily, were you free to get up and walk out at any time? Did police questions focus on you as their only suspect? The answers to these and other similar questions can be used to determine if you were in custody for purposes of Miranda. However, a suspect could be clearly in custody but the police do not try to interrogate him when he pipes up and begins to confess to the crime. This is the next inquiry under Miranda.

• Is the Person being Interrogated?

Second, the court must determine whether the police were interrogating you. The word “interrogate” simply means “to question.” Are the police asking the suspect questions while he is in custody? Of course, questions of personal background [i.e. name, address, date of birth, etc.] may be asked and answered without the necessity of Miranda warnings. But any questions that go to the facts or details of the crime and its surrounding circumstances may not be asked and answered until the police warn you of your constitutional rights.

Now, with this basic primer in mind, let’s look again at the central issue of this article: “Come on down to the Station House and talk to us.” As you can tell no Miranda warnings are required. The police are asking you to come voluntarily. You could say, “No. I won’t go and get off my property.” You could go inside and hop back in bed. However, if you decide to voluntarily go with them anything you say will be used as a basis for charging you with a crime and arresting you right then and there.

Look at it this way, you are not in custody. You have not been charged with a crime. The police do not have probable cause to arrest you. They are looking for something to hang their hat on in order to arrest you. They hope you will come down to their Station where they are in control and they will get you to talk. If the government has the entire burden to prove a case against you beyond a reasonable doubt, then they must do so on proof [real evidence and testimony] other than your own words alone. If, you choose to talk, you do so at your own peril. You have constitutional rights. You must assert them or lose them.

• Remember this: Never, Never Talk to the Police Without a Lawyer!

So, when they come to call on you and try to shake you down, just say, “No thanks!” Don’t go with them. Don’t agree to leave your home and go with the police unless and until they arrest you. Always demand an attorney. Be loud and clear. Keep demanding to talk to an attorney until you get one. Never give a voluntary statement to the police without demanding to have your attorney present first.

The criminal penalties for illegally failing to pay taxes, or tax evasion, can be severe. Federal tax evasion is a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to five years and fines up to $100,000 for those convicted.
Legal efforts to minimize taxes may be made, such as making charitable contributions, contributions to college savings and retirement plans and taking all available deductions for dependents, medical expenses. However, it is not legal to evade taxes by failing to report or inaccurately report income.

The IRS penalizes and prosecutes any person or entity it finds has illegally avoided paying the taxes owed. Approximately 3000 IRS agents are trained to collect information and detect tax evasion. These agents may review federal tax returns, issue a summons to access further financial data and seize or freeze cash, accounts and assets to collect financial information.

If the IRS conducts an audit and finds that tax evasion has occurred, it may levy tax liens, seize property, freeze accounts and garnish wages. Any money, property or other assets a taxpayer owns may be seized to repay the tax liability.

Other Tax Crimes and Penalties

• Filing a False Return - In addition to tax evasion, a person may be charged with a felony for filing a false tax return. This is also known as tax fraud. There are stiff penalties for filing a false return including up to three years in prison and fines of up to $100,000. False return can mean anything from understating your income to overstating your deductions. If may include blatant offenses, such as fabricating non-existent dependents.
• Failure to File - Failure to file a tax return is a misdemeanor offense, but still carries serious penalties. A person convicted of failing to file a federal tax return can be fined up to $25,000 for each year a return was not filed and sent to prison for a year.

Speak With a Criminal Defense Lawyer
If you are accused of tax evasion or another tax crime, it is important that you speak with a criminal defense lawyer and learn about the IRS and federal tax laws that may apply. Even if you are facing criminal charges, you still have criminal rights.