GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After decades of new laws to toughen sentencing for criminals, prosecutors have gained greater leverage to extract guilty pleas from defendants and reduce the number of cases that go to trial, often by using the threat of more serious charges with mandatory sentences or other harsher penalties. Some experts say the process has become coercive in many state and federal jurisdictions, forcing defendants to weigh their options based on the relative risks of facing a judge and jury rather than simple matters of guilt or innocence. In effect, prosecutors are giving defendants more reasons to avoid having their day in court. [continues 2732 words]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Though the Afghan opium harvest has declined for the second consecutive year, a new United Nations report says, there is growing evidence that some Afghan insurgent forces are becoming "narco-cartels" -- similar to anti-government guerrilla groups in Colombia -- that view drug profits as more important than ideology. Afghanistan's multibillion-dollar illicit narcotics industry finances much of the country's insurgency, and the influence of drug money is a major reason the Afghan government is considered among the most corrupt in the world. [continues 802 words]
DALLAS, Aug. 15 -- A college professor in Ohio has drawn the unwelcome attention of one of Mexico's most powerful families. Lawyers for a bank controlled by the family of a Mexican billionaire, Carlos Hank Gonzalez -- a former mayor of Mexico City -- say that Donald E. Schulz leaked a secret Justice Department document last year that described the Hank family as a "significant criminal threat" and linked it to large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering. A lawsuit, filed late today in federal court in Cleveland, alleges that Mr. Schulz, who is now chairman of the political science department at Cleveland State University, leaked copies of the report to newspapers last year. [continues 502 words]
