9,901 articles
Bonny Lee Bakley
Bonny Lee Bakley (1956–2001), also called Bonnie Bakley, was the wife of actor Robert Blake, shot dead outside Vitello's in Studio City; Blake was criminally acquitted in 2005 but found liable for $30 million.
Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co.
Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co., 26 N.Y.2d 219 (1970), New York Court of Appeals nuisance case: cement plant near Albany could avoid an injunction by paying $185,000 in permanent damages, creating the classic liability-rule remedy.
Boot (torture)
The boot (boots, bootikin) was a leg-crushing judicial torture device, especially in early modern Scotland, where wedges hammered into a leg sheath broke bones to extract confessions; outlawed in 1707.
Borders of Israel
Borders of Israel: the country's boundaries with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories. Key lines are the 1949 Green Line armistice lines, treaty borders with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), the UN Blue Line with Lebanon, and the 1974 Syria ceasefire line.
Borstal
Borstal: British custodial institution for young offenders aged 16 to 21, first opened 1902 at Borstal, Kent, by Evelyn Ruggles-Brise; statutory under the Prevention of Crime Act 1908; abolished 1982, replaced by youth custody centres.
Bosman ruling
Bosman ruling: ECJ judgment of 15 December 1995, Case C-415/93, from Jean-Marc Bosman's dispute with RFC Liège; ended transfer fees for out-of-contract EU players and nationality quotas, reshaping football's transfer market.
Bosnian Crisis
Bosnian Crisis (Annexation Crisis), 1908-1909: Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, occupied since the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, against a Straits deal with Russia; Serbia and Montenegro mobilized, and the crisis became a step toward the July Crisis of 1914.
Boston Strangler
The Boston Strangler, also called the Silk Stocking Murders, killed 13 women around Boston, 1962-1964. Albert DeSalvo confessed but was never charged; 2013 DNA linked him only to final victim Mary Sullivan.
Boumediene v. Bush
Boumediene v. Bush (2008), consolidated with Al Odah v. United States, is the 5-4 Supreme Court decision holding that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional habeas corpus right and that MCA section 7 unconstitutionally suspended the writ.
Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina
Boundary of Chile and Argentina 1881 (Tratado de Límites) is a 1881 treaty that settled border disputes and defined the frontier along the Andes at 52° S.
Bounty (reward)
Bounty (reward): a monetary reward offered by governments or private parties for information leading to a fugitive's arrest or conviction. Ranges from $5,000 tip rewards to $25 million State Department offers; FBI Ten Most Wanted standard is up to $1 million.
Bouvier Affair
The Bouvier Affair is the 2015 dispute in which Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev accused Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier of overcharging him on 38 artworks; all cases were discontinued and the men settled in December 2023.
Bow Street Magistrates' Court
Bow Street Magistrates' Court, also known as Bow Street Police Court, was a famous magistrates' court in Covent Garden, London, operating from the 1730s or 1740s until 2006.
Bowers v. Hardwick
Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), the Supreme Court case upholding Georgia's sodomy statute against a due process challenge by Michael Hardwick; overruled by Lawrence v. Texas in 2003.
Boxer Protocol
Boxer Protocol (Xinchou Treaty), signed at Peking September 7, 1901, ended the Boxer Uprising: 450 million tael indemnity at 4% over 40 years, legation guards, punishments, and later US remissions funding education.
Boy Scouts of America sexual abuse settlement (2022)
The Boy Scouts of America sexual abuse settlement of 2022 is the roughly $2.7 billion compensation plan for survivors approved in BSA's bankruptcy, the largest in US history.
Boyacá necklace bomb incident
The Boyacá necklace bomb incident (collar bomba) of May 15, 2000: hooded criminals strapped an explosive collar on farmer Elvia Cortés near Chiquinquirá, Colombia; initially blamed on the FARC, the crime was later proven to be common crime, with José Miguel Suárez convicted in 2002.
Boystown (website)
Boystown (BoysTown) was a darknet child sexual abuse material forum active June 2019 to April 2021, with over 400,000 users and one million posts; shut down by Germany's BKA and ZIT in a Europol-coordinated operation, distinct from the Chicago neighborhood and Boys Town charity.
Brabant killers
Brabant killers (Bende van Nijvel, Tueurs du Brabant): unidentified Belgian gang behind 1982–1985 supermarket robberies and murders, 28 dead, about 40 injured; case closed unsolved in June 2024.
Brad Sigmon
Brad Keith Sigmon, American murderer executed by firing squad in South Carolina on March 7, 2025, the first U.S. firing-squad execution in 15 years; killed David and Gladys Larke in 2001 and chose the firing squad over lethal injection and electrocution.
Bradford murders
The Bradford murders were the 2009-2010 killings of three Bradford sex workers, Susan Rushworth, Shelley Armitage, and Suzanne Blamires, by Stephen Griffiths, the self-styled Crossbow Cannibal, a criminology PhD student who received a whole life order in 2010.
Bradley J. Edwards
Bradley J. Edwards (Bradley James Edwards) is a Fort Lauderdale victims' rights attorney, founding partner of Edwards Henderson, who represented 200+ Jeffrey Epstein victims, won the 2019 CVRA ruling, and authored Relentless Pursuit (2020).
Bradley John Murdoch
Bradley John Murdoch (c. 1958–2025), Australian 'Outback Killer', convicted in 2005 of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio near Barrow Creek, Northern Territory, in 2001; body never found; died in custody 2025.
Bradley N. Garcia
Bradley N. Garcia, born Bradley Nelson Garcia in 1986, is an American jurist serving as a United States circuit judge on the D.C. Circuit since 2023.
Brady disclosure
Brady disclosure is the prosecutor's constitutional duty from Brady v. Maryland (1963) to disclose favorable, material evidence, including impeachment (Giglio) material, to criminal defendants, regardless of defense requests.
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act, Pub. L. 103-159), a 1993 US federal law named for James Brady, amended the Gun Control Act of 1968 to impose a 5-day handgun waiting period (1994–1998) and create the FBI's NICS background check system covering all firearms.
Bram Fischer
Bram Fischer (Abram Fischer, 1908–1975), Afrikaner advocate, SACP chairman, and lead defence counsel at the Rivonia Trial; went underground in 1965 and died serving a life sentence.
Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), a per curiam Supreme Court decision reversing a KKK leader's conviction under Ohio's Criminal Syndicalism Act and establishing the two-part imminent lawless action test for incitement.
Brandon Bernard
Brandon Bernard, American federal death-row inmate executed December 10, 2020 at USP Terre Haute for his accomplice role in the 1999 carjacking murders of Todd and Stacie Bagley at Fort Hood, Texas; case noted for juror and prosecutor clemency appeals.
Brandon Lewis
Brandon Lewis, British Conservative politician, MP for Great Yarmouth 2010-2024; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 2020-22 and Lord Chancellor September-October 2022; resigned July 2022 during the Johnson ministerial revolt.