The curious world of violent crimes

As I have noted before here and here, how a "crime of violence" or a "violent felony" is interpreted under federal provisions can often be very important and very curious.  Moreover, nearly every day some circuit court is wrestling with this issue; today brought two circuit opinions of note in this arena:

• The Third Circuit in US v. Bowers, No. 05-4908 (3d Cir. Dec. 27, 2005) (available here), wades into a circuit split and concludes "that the crime of felon in possession is not a crime of violence within the meaning of § 3156(a)(4)" (which concerns pretrial detention).

• The Ninth Circuit in US v. Ladwig, No. 04-30393 (9th Cir. Dec. 27, 2005) (available here), holds that a felony conviction for making a harassing telephone call under Washington state law qualifies as a "violent felony" for purposes of the sentencing enhancements in the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e).