Stacked Stalin

Stacked

The Editors | Harvard Law Review | 10th March 2023

If your herd of 170 goats commits a trespass, is that one offence or 170 offences? In America, the prosecutor decides. Crimes often comprise a number of offences that could be itemised separately, i.e., "stacked". Plea-bargaining prosecutors may threaten to stack charges, since stacked charges tend to attract higher sentences. Is this fair? Can the sum of the parts be greater than the whole crime? (8,100 words)

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Strippers, JFK, Stalin

Ellen Jovin | Delancey Place | 9th March 2023

When you write a book about grammar, and you go on a book tour, Jovin reports, people will always ask you about the Oxford comma. In one classic example which she cites, and which has not aged well, the Oxford comma distinguishes "We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin" from "We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin". Even with the comma, in that case, I think one would read on (990 words)