Welcome back to the Politics of Prosecution Podcast! This podcast examines the interaction between politics, broadly defined, and criminal prosecution on the local, state and federal levels. Our goal is to produce a variety of shows using different media. The podcast’s first series is created and produced by students in High Point University’s Honors Program. They will look at a variety of issues raised by ongoing events.
In the twenty-third episode of the first series, the hosts introduce the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in a dicussion of how malleable laws increase prosecutotial discretion and power. The hosts examine prior court cases where the CFAA was charged, including United States v Rodriguez (2010), John v United States (2013), United States v Valle (2015), and United States v Nosal (2017). Additionally, the hosts analyze the possible outcomes and inplications of Van Buren v United States, the first case involving the CFAA that will go before the Supreme Court. Finally, the hosts consider how the CFAA can be improved and how the CFAA could limit prosecutorial discretion.
The resources used for reference in this episode include:
https://academic.oup.com/jpart/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jopart/muaa017/5837923
https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/77.3.1163
https://law.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/National-Study-Prosecutor-Elections-2020.pdf
https://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/online/vol50/Sklansky.pdf
https://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/thedigs/2014/10/13/anne-alpern-first-woman-on-pennsylvanias-high-court/
https://www.acslaw.org/event/progressive-prosecution-and-the-carceral-state/#:~:text=Proponents%20of%20%E2%80%9Cprogressive%20prosecution%E2%80%9D%20commonly,limiting%20the%20number%20of%20people
https://www.fairvote.org/voter_turnout#measuring_voter_turnout
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/03/in-year-of-record-midterm-turnout-women-continued-to-vote-at-higher-rates-than-men/
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/01/16/facing-intimidation-black-women-prosecutors-say-enough
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1030
https://www.nacdl.org/Landing/ComputerFraudandAbuseAct
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-11th-circuit/1549806.html
https://www.eff.org/cases/van-buren-v-united-states
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-783/146727/20200701130402295_19-
783BriefForPetitioner.pdf
https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/16-1344-Nosal-petition.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._John_(2010)
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1719750.html
A special thank you goes to HPU’s Media Services Librarian Josh Harris for allowing us to use his outstanding recording equipment.
Taylor Cunningham performed the editing this week.
If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or criticisms, please contact us via:
Twitter: @Poli_Pros
Instagram: Poli.n.Pros
poli.n.pros@gmail.com
More episodes of this podcast can be found on iTunes and Spotify.
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