Expanding The Definition of "Crime Victims":  At Volokh Conspiracy, Paul Cassell has a post discussing his recently filed mandamus petition in the Eleventh Circuit.  The petition asks the court to recognize borrowers who were overcharged on loans as "crime victims" under the Crime Victims' Rights Act.  His petition challenges a ruling by a Florida District judge in November 2008, that borrowers on loans from Coast Bank were not "crime victims" of a criminal conspiracy because they were not specifically listed in the criminal charges against him.  It argues that because borrowers suffered financial losses from the fraud, they are "victims" entitled to the protections of the federal Crime Victim's Rights Act, and are entitled to restitution.  A copy of the petition can be found here.  Cassell seems particularly excited about the precedent this case could set.  He writes that this case "could produce the first appellate court decision deciding who is a 'victim' under the [Crime Victims' Rights Act]."  He hopes it will be "a nationally significant case that will set the precedent for whether people who harmed by financial crimes have rights in the process."  Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy also has a post on Cassell's petition.

Another Take on Philip Morris Oral Arguments:  As a follow-up to Kent's post on today's Philip Morris arguments, here is a report from Jan Crawford Greenburg on the "60 minutes of non-stop action[,]" that occurred in the Court this morning.

Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law Tackles Sex Crimes:  At Sex Crimes, Corey Rayburn Young has this post  providing brief summaries of the three articles in the Journal's Fall 2008 issue.  Of particular interest is the article by Wayne A. Logan on "Criminal Justice Federalism and National Sex Offender Policy."  Rayburn's post provides a snippet from the article which discusses  the "nationalization of registration and notification, systematically achieved by the federal government over a fifteen-year period," and its "major effect on constitutional federalism and the states themselves."