The Importance of Keeping a Criminal Conviction Off Your Record

There are a number of good reasons that you want to try to remove a criminal conviction from your record—you may be denied access to credit or to educational opportunities. You may be denied the right to live in certain types of housing. Most importantly, though, you may face extreme difficulties finding gainful employment. Not…

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What to Know If You Are Arrested

When you are detained or arrested by law enforcement officers, it’s critical that you know your rights. Even though police officers should read you your Miranda rights when taking you into custody, you want to know ahead of time what is happening and what your rights are. What is an Arrest? There’s a difference between…

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What to Do If You Are Served with a Restraining Order in California

Though the most common objective of a restraining order is to limit contact between the person served and others, typically a spouse or children, a restraining order can also require that the recipient fulfill other requirements, including payment of child or spousal support, payment of certain bills, compliance with custody and visitation orders, or even…

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What Constitutes Illegal Gambling?

There was a time when gambling was illegal everywhere except Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Though all that has changed, with casinos, pari-mutuel betting tracks and poker rooms being legalized in many states, there are still certain types of gambling, or gaming, that are prohibited in every state. Gambling Defined Though the specifics can vary…

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Theft by Deception

Finders, keepers? Not in California, where Penal Code Section 484-502.9 specifically states that keeping lost property if you have knowledge of its true owner is a crime. The code outlines a long list of specific offenses involving fraud and deception. Consider the following examples: defrauding a person of labor using a false reference to get…

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California Addresses All Aspects of “Driving Under the Influence”

When most people think of a DUI, they associate it only with drinking and driving. But California officials are out to educate the public and to enforce a broader interpretation of the law. A new campaign, recently launched by the California Office of Traffic Safety, focuses on what is known as DUI-D—driving while under the influence…

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