Category Archives: Criminal Justice
A Close Look At The Issue Of False Confessions
Every day, defendants plead guilty to crimes they did not commit; all over the country. This is often done in order to “get a deal”; public defenders making deals with prosecutors and their clients for lighter sentences or some other form of consideration. Thinking about how many of these could involve untrue confessions is… Read More »
“The Case For Shutting Down New York City’s Rikers Island Jail”
We’ve discussed issues at New York’s Rikers Island facility before, documenting the significant number of violent incidents and violations of inmates’ constitutional rights at the facility, which investigators have documented and some legislators have cited as reasons to close the facility within the next 10 years. Now on a mission to reform New York’s… Read More »
New Jersey Township Considers Making Sale Of Guns And Ammunition Illegal In Some Areas
One New Jersey Township–Piscataway–is considering passing an ordinance that would make it illegal to sell ammunition or firearms within 1,000 feet of “sensitive” locations, including bars, college campuses, daycare centers, medical facilities, parks, places of worship, schools, and similar locations. Local leaders have noted that it is part of an effort to take things… Read More »
Supreme Court Rules For Police In Excessive Force Case
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning police officer conduct in an excessive force case—arguably involving both police misconduct and racial profiling—sends an alarming signal to the public, as noted by Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent. Specifically, it sends the message that officers can shoot first and think later, and that unreasonable conduct… Read More »
The Need For Criminal Justice Reform
Many are aware that there are a myriad of flaws in our criminal justice system, however, a recent publication from The Hill highlights just how bad it is. For example, almost three million U.S. children under the age of 18 have an incarcerated parent; there are more prisons than colleges in our country; drug… Read More »
Is It Possible To Incorporate Neuroscience Into The Courtroom While Also Safeguarding Liberties?
The U.S. Bill of Rights enshrines certain individual liberties and freedoms in our culture that the law, governments, courts, etc. cannot infringe upon; rights that include freedom from self-incrimination and the right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury. We’ve previously discussed the use of neuroscience to argue for mitigating circumstances in a… Read More »
“Defending Yourself In The Dark”: New York Continues To Face Issues With Unfair Discovery Laws
We’ve previously discussed the issue of a huge problem that New York faces in its criminal justice system before; this issue of prosecutors withholding evidence until the last minute, and how this not only violates defendants’ rights to a fair trial, but actually contributes to the number of wrongful convictions every year. For years,… Read More »
Yale Rape Verdict Shows Differing Standards For Consent In Criminal Courtrooms Versus Campus Panels
The trial against the Yale student accused of rape has been in the headlines of late, especially when the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on March 7th, after less than three hours of deliberations. The message received from the trial was loud and clear: prosecuting sex crimes in a court of law… Read More »
Neuroscience Gains Increasingly Important Role In Criminal Defense
According to this recent piece featured in Scientific American, neuroscience is playing a larger and larger role in criminal defense cases every day. Specifically, criminal defense strategies are including behavioral tests, brain scans, and psychological evaluations more and more in an effort to mitigate potential punishments for criminal defendants. As scientific methods to measure… Read More »
Outdated Laws Block Information Flow & Justice For Criminal Defendants
Access to all information relevant to a criminal case is a crucial aspect of building an effective defense and in ensuring that our criminal justice system honors a defendant’s constitutional rights. And yet, this is a serious issue when it comes to crucial information on social media sites, as they typically readily hand over… Read More »
