IN THE NEWS
Recent Cases Highlight the Risk of False Confessions
Two remarkably similar cases recently prompted the Chicago Tribune to ask, “What causes people to give false confessions?” In 2005 police elicited a confession from Jerry Hobbs to the murder of his young daughter and her friend in Lake County, Illinois. Recently, however, DNA results contradicted Hobbs’ confession and identified another man, currently incarcerated for sexual assault in Virginia. Several years earlier, Kevin Fox was exonerated by DNA after police persuaded him to confess to the killing of his 3-year-old daughter in Will County, IL. The cases raise grave questions about the risks of widely used interrogation techniques and highlight the need for more safeguards to help prevent false confessions, and, when they occur, to identify them before they subvert justice.
A growing number of states have recognized that electronic recording of interrogations yields many benefits, including the prevention of wrongful convictions caused by false confessions. By creating a reviewable record, prosecutors are better able to identify problems early, and judges and juries have the full picture when they need to assess the voluntariness and reliability of suspect statements.Read more about the advantages of recording here.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
On July 2 Florida’s new state Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady created the Florida Innocence Commission. The Commission will study issues related to wrongful convictions over the next two years and issue a report with reform recommendations. The panel includes judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officials and some of Florida’s top lawyers.
Florida is now one of eleven states that uses or has used some sort of innocence commission to address common causes of wrongful convictions. Wrongful convictions teach us important lessons about where the criminal justice system is prone to error. Learn more about The Justice Project’s reform initiatives, which are designed to prevent wrongful convictions and increase fairness and accuracy in the criminal justice system.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Fort Collins Police Lt. James Broderick, the lead detective in the investigation of Tim Masters, wrongfully convicted of murder in 1987 and exonerated in 2008, was indicted on eight counts of felony first-degree perjury this week.
Masters’ wrongful conviction was obtained due in large part to misconduct of the lead prosecutors, Terrance Gilmore and Jolene Blair, who withheld key pieces of exculpatory evidence. In order to prevent wrongful convictions, prosecutors must ethically fulfill their duties by adhering to proper procedures, including disclosing all exculpatory evidence. Click here to learn more about the principal responsibilities of prosecutors and TJP’s suggested reforms to ensure they are held accountable.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Following the conviction of former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge, many criminal justice stakeholders in Illinois, including prosecutors and police, are calling for an expansion of the current electronic recording mandate from recording custodial interrogations in homicide cases to recording all felony cases.
Nationwide hundreds of police departments realize the benefits of electronic recording and have adopted this practice. Electronic recording has emerged as a powerful fact finding tool that helps our criminal justice system get the truth and reach just outcomes. Click here to learn more about the benefits of electronically recording suspect interrogations.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Former Lt. Jon Burge of the Chicago Police Department was charged with federal perjury and obstruction of justice charges for lying about his use of torture to obtain confessions. Burge’s misconduct led to four wrongful capital convictions all based on false confessions, and demonstrates the need for electronic recording of custodial interrogations, which Illinois has since implemented.
Learn about other cases of wrongful conviction and how electronically recording custodial interrogations acts as a critical safeguard that can prevent false confessions.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Retired New Jersey judge Geoffrey Gaulkin has released a report after reviewing three decades of research regarding eyewitness reliability, which makes recommendations to improve the reliability of eyewitness testimony in trials.
Eyewitness misidentification is the most frequent cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing. Double-blind, sequential lineups are among TJP’s recommended reforms for improving the reliability of eyewitness evidence. Read more about TJP’s recommendations on eyewitness identification procedure reforms.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The New York Bar Association is advocating for a law to require corroborating evidence for non-accomplice informant testimony. In addition to corroboration, judges would also have to instruct juries they must cautiously consider witness credibility in light of any benefit they’d get.
Testimony from in-custody informants is widely regarded as one of the least reliable forms of evidence in the criminal justice system. The motive for in-custody informants to fabricate testimony dramatically increases when the state offers incentives for the incarcerated person in exchange for testimony. Click here to learn more about TJP’s recommended reforms for improving the reliability of in-custody informant testimony.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The California Crime Lab Task Force, a state panel of various experts who oversee forensic analysts and recommend improvements to the legislature, has voted to disband itself. This decision comes on the heels of a series of crime lab scandals across the state, and has caused concern among public defenders and other actors in the criminal justice system.
Despite disbanding, the Task Force did release a report last year with recommendations to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the forensic science in the criminal justice system, including adjusting improving training and increasing staffing. These recommendations mirror some of those put forth by The Justice Project. Read more about TJP’s suggested reforms for enhancing the quality of forensic science.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The Virginia State Crime Commission is studying eyewitness identification procedures, including lineups, and considering a bill that would mandate double-blind, sequential lineups and photo arrays statewide.
Eyewitness misidentification is the most frequent cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing. Double-blind, sequential lineups are among TJP’s recommended reforms for improving the reliability of eyewitness evidence. Read more of TJP’s recommendations on eyewitness identification procedure reforms.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
A fingerprint misidentification that occurred in the Houston, Texas crime lab in 1996 is raising questions about whether the lab should extend an investigation into the fingerprint analysis unit beyond the initial review of cases from 2004 to 2009.
Without proper safeguards, carelessness, unintentional bias, and misconduct can undermine the accuracy and reliability of forensic science. Consistent oversight plays a key role in ensuring that crime labs maintain high standards of accuracy, reliability, and objectivity. Read TJP’s recommendations and solutions for improving the standards of forensic science.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer refuses to grant clemency to William Macumber, despite the fact that another man confessed and that the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency unanimously recommended to Ms. Brewer that Mr. Macumber be released after thirty-five years in prison “to correct a miscarriage of justice.”
Wrongful convictions teach us important lessons about where the criminal justice system is prone to error. Learn more about The Justice Project’s reform initiatives, which are designed to safeguard against wrongful convictions and increase fairness and accuracy in the criminal justice system.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The case of Marcus Lyons, exonerated of rape in 2007, demonstrates the fallibility of composite sketches and the need to improve eyewitness identification procedures.
Eyewitness misidentification is the most frequent cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing. Read TJP’s recommendations for enhancing the reliability of eyewitness evidence.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Judge Dora L. Irizarry, a federal Judge in New York’s Eastern District berated the Brooklyn district attorney’s Office Tuesday for failing to take responsibility for its prosecutors’ alleged misconduct in the murder case of Jabar Collins. Collins and his attorneys accused lead prosecutor Michael Vecchione of Brady violations, withholding evidence, witness coercion, and misleading the jury.
Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. Because prosecutors have such power, they must face timely sanctions when they neglect their duties either intentionally or inadvertently. Moreover, anytime a judge finds that the prosecutor committed misconduct, whether deliberate or inadvertent, the misconduct should be reported to an attorney disciplinary agency or a separate prosecutorial review board. Learn more about TJP’s recommended reforms to hold prosecutors more accountable.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Members of the Task Force for Indigent Defense will vote Wednesday in Austin on whether to approve a $27.7 million grant that would expand statewide a pilot program of public defender’s office for capital murder cases that has been operating in West Texas for two and a half years.
Capital cases are the most complicated to try, and almost all capital defendants are indigent. Too often, though, the quality of legal representation that states provide to indigent defendants is woefully inadequate. Bad defense lawyering has been a factor in many wrongful convictions. Click here to learn about TJP’s recommended reforms to adequate counsel, which could help prevent poor lawyering from resulting in wrongful convictions.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The New York State Bar Association has proposed a series of legislative changes to protect against wrongful convictions. Among the suggested reforms, which come from the state bar’s Task Force on Wrongful Convictions, are policies to improve eyewitness identification procedures, to enhance the reliability of informant testimony, and to improve prosecutorial accountability by expanding discovery requirements.
Wrongful convictions teach us important lessons about where the criminal justice system is prone to error. Learn more about The Justice Project’s recommendations designed to prevent errors that undermine the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Tyrone Jones was released from prison last week after spending twelve years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Prosecutors in the original case failed to disclose to Jones’ defense that the eyewitness who identified Jones had told police earlier that she had not seen anybody.
Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. In order to prevent wrongful convictions, prosecutors must ethically fulfill their duties by adhering to proper procedures and conduct, including disclosing all exculpatory evidence. Click here to learn more about the principal responsibilities of prosecutors and TJP’s suggested reforms to ensure they are held accountable.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Law enforcement officials in Lubbock, Texas, have shown little interest in reviewing the case of Timothy Cole, who died in prison before being exonerated for a wrongful conviction based on faulty eyewitness identification. The officials claim that technology, case law and years of experience had made the lessons of the 1985 case irrelevant.
Gary Wells, an Iowa State University professor and expert on police lineup procedures, refutes this sentiment and notes that each police department is responsible for implementing the most advanced and reliable eyewitness identification procedures. Read more about TJP’s recommendations for improving the reliability of eyewitness identifications, which can help prevent wrongful convictions like that of Tim Cole.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
New York State has adopted new guidelines and best practices for photo array and lineup procedures that determine whether an individual is implicated in a crime, in order to minimize false identifications.
New York has taken a critical step to improving the fairness and accuracy of their criminal justice system. Eyewitness misidentification is the most frequent cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing. Read TJP’s recommendations for enhancing the reliability of eyewitness evidence.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
David Kofoed, former Douglas County chief crime scene investigator, has been sentenced to 20 months to four years for evidence tampering.
While the patent transgressions of Kofoed may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
The Rhode Island State Senate has approved a bill to require electronic recording of custodial interrogations in cases that could result in life imprisonment of the accused. This is the second year the Senate has approved such a bill; last year Governor Carcieri vetoed it.
Nationwide hundreds of police departments realize the benefits of electronic recording and have adopted this practice. Electronic recording has emerged as a powerful fact finding tool that helps our criminal justice system get the truth and reach just outcomes. Click here to learn more about the benefits of electronically recording suspect interrogations.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
On Wednesday the United States District Court in Brooklyn began an evidentiary hearing to explore the misconduct of prosecutors from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office in the case of Jabbar Collins, currently serving 34 years for murder. Judge Dora Irizarry has indicated she intends to vacate Collins’ conviction based on prosecutors’ withholding of evidence favorable to the defendant.
Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. For the fair administration of justice, it is critical that prosecutors discharge their duties responsibly and ethically by adhering to proper procedures and conduct. Learn more about the principal responsibilities of prosecutors and how to make sure they are held accountable.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Texas has had more exonerations by DNA testing than any other state in the nation. However, many wrongfully convicted people do not have the benefit of DNA evidence that could clearly identify the perpetrator. For this reason, the conviction integrity unit in Dallas County is now shifting its focus toward cases where there is no DNA evidence, but where questions remain about an inmante’s guilt or innocence. Each wrongful conviction uncovered with or without DNA evidence teaches us important lessons about how the criminal justice system is prone to error and evinces the urgent need for reform. Learn more about The Justice Project’s reccommendations designed to prevent errors that undermins the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Shawn Massey –wrongfully convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery in North Carolina—was exonerated after spending 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Massey was convicted because of eyewitness misidentification and was released after it was revealed that the victim expressed doubt about her identification.
According to the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, Massey is among 19 people in North Carolina whose sentences have been vacated during the past 15 years due to wrongful convictions. Twelve of those individuals had been mistakenly identified by eyewitnesses. Much like trace physical evidence, eyewitness evidence must be collected carefully, according to scientifically sound protocols, or its accuracy can be tainted or ruined. Read TJP’s recommendations for improving the reliability of eyewitness evidence.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Chaunte Ott, who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, was recently paid $25,000 in compensation by the state of Wisconsin according to a State Claims Board decision released Tuesday. The payment is the maximum allowed under Wisconsin law, and amounts to less than $2000 per year of wrongful incarceration in Ott’s case. Ott was released in 2009 after no physical evidence connected Ott to the crime, and DNA evidence found on the victim’s body matched a suspected serial killer who has yet to be charged with the murder. Addressing the flaws in our criminal justice system that lead to wrongful convictions is a public safety imperative. Click here to read other cases of wrongful conviction that expose the common errors in our criminal justice system.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Today, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office hosts the 2010 Justice Summit. The Summit will gather over 300 public defenders, prosecutors, judges, elected officials, media, and community leaders and will focus discussion on exposing and preventing everyday injustices.
The Justice Project’s President, John Terzano, is included as a guest panelist at the Summit and will speak on the impact prosecutorial misconduct has on our criminal justice system and the importance of holding prosecutors accountable. Click here to learn more about how states can improve prosecutorial accountability.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
On Monday, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $16 million jury award to Theodore White Jr. who was wrongfully imprisoned for five years on a false molestation conviction. In August 2008 a federal jury in Kansas City found that knowledge of an affair and conspiring relationship between White’s wife and the case detective was withheld by prosecutors during trial.
Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. Learn more about their principal responsibilities and how to ensure they are held accountable.
Monday, May 10, 2010
William Autrey, a confessed robber, cooperated with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office and helped get indictments in a number of cases in exchange for a plea deal to ensure he would not spend more than 15 years in prison. After negotiating the deal, Autrey was out of prison on bond and committed a number of other burglaries.
Aside from the risk of informants committing additional crimes, testimony from in-custody informants is widely regarded as the least reliable form of evidence in the criminal justice system. The motive for in-custody informants to fabricate testimony dramatically increases when the state offers incentives for the incarcerated person in exchange for testimony. Despite this fact, prosecutors often utilize jailhouse informants. Click here to learn more about how states can improve the standards for admissibility of such testimony and help ensure that the most reliable evidence is making it into the courtroom and before the jury.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Ray Towler, a man wrongfully convicted of rape and kidnapping, was exonerated on May 5th after DNA testing proved his innocence. Towler’s defense lawyers along with the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Prosecutor’s Office asked the court Wednesday to vacate his conviction and order his immediate release.
Towler spent nearly 29 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Click here to read other cases of wrongful conviction that expose the common errors in our criminal justice system.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, Police Chief George Gascón announced that the San Francisco Police Department will close the scandal-marred narcotics section of its forensic lab permanently and use outside testers to analyze narcotics evidence. After uncovering myriad problems in the lab, Gascón stated the department would be better served by having independent labs conduct drug testing. Other sections of the police crime lab are unaffected by the decision.
Most publicly operated forensic labs are run by police agencies, but the National Academy of Science recently recommended that labs be made independent of law enforcement agencies. Independent crime labs and oversight bodies help to ensure that analysts operate in an impartial environment to ensure accurate, unbiased and reliable testing. Click here to read more of TJP’s recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Today, The Justice Project released the May edition of the TJP monthly newsletter! Please take some time to read our newsletter and browse our website to learn more about the troubling stories of wrongful convictions, the encouraging work taking place around the nation, and to learn what you can do to help.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming has recently begun to electronically record interrogations. In the past, the Sheriff’s Office has come under fire for not taping interrogations. The issue came to the forefront in a trial in September 2008 when a woman was found not guilty of molestation charges after testifying that her confession had been coerced—there was no video or audio recording to argue otherwise.
Nationwide hundreds of police departments realize the benefits of electronic recording and have adopted this practice. Electronic recording has emerged as a powerful fact finding tool that helps our criminal justice system get the truth and reach just outcomes. Click here to learn more about the benefits of electronically recording suspect interrogations.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
On April 29th, New York State Judge Thomas Van Strydonck vacated the 1992 murder conviction of Frank Sterling after lawyers on both sides agreed that DNA evidence excluded Sterling as the killer and instead implicated another man.
Sterling was wrongfully convicted based on a false confession and spent 19 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Learn about other cases of wrongful conviction and how recording suspect interrogations is a critical safeguard that can prevent injustices caused by false confessions.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Frank Sterling, who was convicted of murder in Rochester, New York in 1988, is set to be exonerated today because of DNA testing that implicated another man as the actual perpetrator. Sterling was convicted based on a false confession given during 12 hour interrogation, and after he had worked a 36 hour trucking shift.
Cases such as Sterling’s demonstrate the real threat of false confessions. Learn how electronically recording suspect interrogations is a critical safeguard that can prevent injustices caused by false confessions.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
On April 26th San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris addressed the scandals that were uncovered in the San Francisco crime lab and how those events have significantly impacted a number of drug cases. Harris asserted that this series of missteps has amounted to “devastating violations of the public’s trust in a critical part of our criminal justice system.” She also suggests that reform is needed to restore integrity of the city’s crime lab.
Without proper safeguards, carelessness, unintentional bias, and misconduct can undermine the accuracy and reliability of forensic science. Substantive and consistent oversight plays a key role in ensuring that crime labs maintain high standards of accuracy, reliability, and objectivity. Read TJP’s recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Texas Forensic Science Commission is meeting met today in Irving, Texas. This was the first meeting since last year to discuss actual cases, including the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. The Willingham case was put on hold at a key juncture in the investigation in October 2009 when Governor Rick Perry replaced commission members, including the chairman.
Willingham’s case is a troubling example of the kinds of forensic failures documented in the 2009 report of the National Academies of Science. Even as forensic evidence is increasingly relied upon, the this case forces us to recognize that, too often, evidence is coming out of a system that, according to the NAS, is “badly fragmented,” and lacks the oversight, independence, objectivity and quality standards needed to ensure reliability. Read The Justice Project’s recommendations for improving forensic standards.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
After discovering faulty work by a now fired Colorado Springs Police Crime Lab employee, the police department and prosecutor’s office have retested over 7,000 cases and are addressing the cases with error.
The errors uncovered in this Colorado crime lab illustrate the need for meaningful oversight of the operations in forensic science labs. Substantive and consistent oversight plays a key role in ensuring that crime labs maintain high standards of accuracy, reliability, and objectivity. Read more recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
On April 19th new DNA evidence led Circuit Judge Charles Curless to order Kenneth York to be released from prison. York was wrongfully convicted of rape in Vernon County, Missouri and sentenced to life without parole in 1994.
York’s wrongful conviction traces to the victim’s misidentification of him in a photo lineup. Eyewitness error is the leading cause of wrongful convictions, but accuracy can be enhanced by implementing best practices for the conduct of live and photo lineups. Read more about TJP’s recommendations for eyewitness identification procedures.
Monday, April 19, 2010
After the closing of the Detroit police crime lab in 2008, the workloads have shifted to the state police labs and burdened the already at-capacity lab system with 20 to 25 percent more cases. Police officials and state legislators note that additional funding would be necessary to hire enough employees to reduce the growing backlog of DNA cases.
States must allocate sufficient funding for crime labs, but more money alone cannot ensure that our criminal justice system has access to reliable, efficient forensic services. Robust oversight and structural reform are needed as well. Read The Justice Project’s recommendations for improving forensic standards.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Anthony Robinson served over nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit in large part because of mistaken eyewitness identification. In this article Robinson recalls his case, and remarks on the fallibility of eyewitness identification and the problem of wrongful convictions in Texas. With 41 DNA exonerations to date, Texas leads the nation in the number of exonerations, and 85 percent of those wrongful convictions have involved mistaken eyewitness identifications.
To address this problem the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel was created in 2009 to study the causes of wrongful convictions and make reform recommendations to the legislature. Click here to learn more about the Panel and The Justice Project’s efforts to increase the fairness and accuracy in the Texas criminal justice system.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
In recent months, a series of scandals in the San Francisco Police Department forensic laboratory have been uncovered after the initial discovery that a criminalist at the lab was stealing cocaine from evidence storage facilities. What initially seemed to be a problem with one unethical employee has led to the unearthing of myriad problems within the lab, including two cases of tainted DNA samples. Moreover, a troubling audit was released showing an improper maintenance of chain of custody of evidence, inadequate record keeping, and a lack of cleanliness in the overall facility. Click here to read The Justice Project’s latest blog post and learn more about the San Francisco forensic lab and the importance of improving the practice use of forensic science.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Matthew Livers spent months in prison after falsely confessing to a murder he did not commit. The recorded 11 hour interrogation of Livers, a “mildly mentally challenged” man, exposed the unrelenting coercion tactics of two investigators that lead to his false confession.
Cases such as Livers’ demonstrate the real threat of false confessions. Learn how electronically recording suspect interrogations is a critical safeguard that can prevent injustices caused by false confessions.
Friday, April 9, 2010
The problems at the San Francisco Police crime lab continue to grow. On Thursday the San Francisco Police declared that the department had rid itself of an embarrassing feral cat problem discovered in the lab’s evidence storage area, but they also emphasized other systemic problems that need to be addressed that will likely require more resources.
These problems demonstrate the need for forensic science reform through meaningful oversight and improved practices and standards. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
On April 7, a federal appeals court upheld the verdict that Kevin Fox had been falsely arrested and charged in Will County, Illinois for his daughter’s murder. Fox spent eight months in jail after falsely confessing to the crime during a coercive interrogation that lasted for more than 14 hours. Fox will receive $8.1 million in damages for the traumatic ordeal.
Full electronic recording of interrogations is one of the most essential safeguards that can help ensure the reliability and voluntariness of confession evidence. Recording also helps protect police from false claims of abuse or coercion. Read The Justice Project’s recommendations for electronically recording custodial interrogations.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
On April 5 Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed a reform bill that will help reduce wrongful convictions. The reform package includes measures to preserve and enhance access to DNA testing, require more accurate lineup procedures, and pushes police to record custodial interrogations. Learn more about the reforms designed to eliminate common, preventable errors that undermine the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.
Monday, April 5, 2010
An Orleans Parish District Court Judge declared a mistrial in a murder case when prosecutors in the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office twice refused court orders to turn over evidence to the defense. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal agreed with the judge, stating that “prosecutors so obviously and purposely violated the trial court’s order.”
Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. For the fair administration of justice, it is critical that prosecutors discharge their duties responsibly and ethically by adhering to proper procedures and conduct. Learn more about the principal responsibilities of prosecutors and how to make sure they are held accountable.
Friday April 2, 2010
The San Francisco Police Department has now widened the investigation of its crime lab and must determine whether thefts, sloppy evidence handling and other problems documented as having existed at the crime lab in 2009, actually began several years earlier. While this sort of misconduct uncovered in San Francisco may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Thursday April 1, 2010
Today, The Justice Project released the April edition of the TJP monthly newsletter! Please take some time to read our newsletter and browse our website to learn more about the troubling stories of wrongful convictions, the encouraging work taking place around the nation, and to learn what you can do to help.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Today Florida State Senator Mike Haridopolos will seek funding from the legislature, through state budget amendments, for a commission to study wrongful convictions and incarcerations. Research on the exonerations of innocent people has identified many of the primary causes of wrongful convictions. A number of states have already created similar commissions that use case studies and research to make meaningful recommendations to enact safeguards through legislation. Learn more about the reforms designed to eliminate common, preventable errors that undermine the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Despite The Justice Project’s statewide study last year highlighting the lack of written eyewitness identification procedures and best practices among Texas law enforcement agencies, the Houston Chronicle reports that many departments still have not adopted policies or procedures that can reduce faulty eyewitness identification. While important progress has occurred in Dallas and Austin, most jurisdictions lag behind in the implementation of best practices.
Eyewitness misidentification is widely recognized as the leading causes of wrongful convictions, playing a role in more than 75 percent of DNA exonerations nationwide and about 82 percent of DNA exoneration in Texas. The Justice Project has outlined recommendations for policy improvements that will enable law enforcement to obtain the most reliable evidence from eyewitnesses for use in a criminal investigation.
Monday, March 29, 2010
San Francisco prosecutors may be forced to drop an additional 1,400 cases because of the growing scandal at the San Francisco crime lab. Last month officials discovered that a long-time crime lab technician had stolen and used cocaine held as evidence. The lab was shut down on March 9th by Police Chief George Gascón. While the sort of blatant misconduct uncovered in San Francisco may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Friday, March 26, 2010
On March 25th Broward County, Florida circuit court judge declared Anthony Caravella fully exonerated. He was wrongfully convicted of a 1983 rape and murder based on a false confession.
Caravella spent 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Learn about other cases of wrongful conviction and how recording suspect interrogations is a critical safeguard that can prevent injustices caused by false confessions.
Photo from South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Thursday, March 25, 2010
David Kofoed, the chief criminal science investigator of Douglas County, Nebraska, was recently convicted of evidence tampering for planting blood evidence during a murder investigation. This conviction calls into question the legitimacy of other cases on which he worked and has spurred calls for a review of Kofoed’s past cases.
While the sort of blatant misconduct uncovered in Omaha may be rare, many of the same safeguards against the more pervasive problem of inadvertent error can also protect against intentional misconduct. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Oklahoma’s commissioner of health recommended Tuesday that more funding and new headquarters be provided to the embattled Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to help it regain its national accreditation and reduce a backlog of more than 1,000 incomplete autopsy reports. It is important that states allocate sufficient funding so that our criminal justice system has access to reliable, efficient forensic services. Read The Justice Project’s recommendations for improving forensic standards.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Vermont Senate has passed legislation that asks a law enforcement advisory committee to study the implementation and costs of electronic recording of custodial interrogations as well as expanded preservation of forensic evidence. Electronically recording custodial interrogations ensures the availability of strong and reliable evidence, and is a proven method of reducing wrongful convictions. Click here to learn more about the benefits of electronically recording interrogations.
Friday, March 19, 2010
On March 18th a Connecticut Superior Court judge ruled Ronald Taylor and George Gould actually innocent of a 1993 murder, overturned their convictions, and ordered their immediate release from prison. The judge’s ruling came after a star eyewitness recanted her original testimony and DNA analysis eliminated Taylor and Gould as the culprits.
Both Taylor and Gould spent 16 years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Click here to read other cases of wrongful conviction that expose the common errors in our criminal justice system.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Detroit Police Department Crime Lab closed in 2008 after an audit showed erroneous weapons ballistics tests in a number of criminal cases. Now the Detroit City Council has approved funding for a special unit to review years worth of evidence that was processed by the lab and used in criminal trials. A county prosecutor stated Tuesday that five cases already are slated to be retried as a result of the tainted evidence. Unfortunately, carelessness, inadvertent bias and misconduct in crime labs have compromised the reliability of forensic evidence, largely because of a lack of meaningful oversight and quality standards. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
A Rhode Island State Senator recently introduced a bill that would establish uniform procedures and requirements for eyewitness identification lineups. The bill also calls for the creation of a task force to identify and recommend policies and procedures to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identification.
Eyewitness evidence is critical to our criminal justice system. Decades of research on eyewitness memory have demonstrated that eyewitness evidence, much like trace physical evidence, must be collected carefully, according to scientifically sound protocols, or its accuracy can be tainted or ruined. Read TJP’s recommendations for improving the reliability of eyewitness evidence.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
In Nebraska, Douglas County’s chief crime-scene investigator is on trial for the second time. This time he is charged with one count of evidence tampering for allegedly planting evidence in a 2006 murder, which was used against two men who were wrongly charged and imprisoned.
Unfortunately, forensic misconduct, carelessness, and inadvertent bias in crime labs have compromised the reliability of forensic evidence. Read more about steps needed to ensure that forensic evidence is objective, valid and reliable.
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Ohio State Legislature will likely vote this week on a bill that would require more accurate lineup protocols, encourage video-recording of interrogations, and improve access to DNA evidence. Supporters of the bill say that it includes vital components that will improve criminal investigations.
Read The Justice Project’s recommendations to improve eyewitness identification, increase access to DNA-testing, and promote electronic recording of custodial interrogations.
Friday, March 12, 2010
In a letter to the Broward County, Florida public defender, Broward County State Attorney Michael Satz explained his new office policy regarding the disclosure of potentially exculpatory evidence concerning police officers under investigation for misconduct. Previously, individual prosecutors used their discretion to determine whether such information was material to a defendant’s case. Now, notices of police officers under investigation will be automatically disclosed to the defense.
Learn more about the need for prosecutors’ offices to adopt and enforce clearly defined, uniform policies and procedures, and the importance of an open discovery process to ensure fairness in criminal cases.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Hundreds of cases may be dismissed pending allegations that a long-time crime lab technician tampered with evidence at the San Francisco crime lab. In light of these events, San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi is calling for a larger independent investigation into operations at the lab.
It is important that an independent body oversees the operations of forensic science labs in order to develop and enforce quality standards. Read more recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Two Virginia prosecutors will face Virginia State Bar misconduct hearings regarding alleged Brady violations in the 1998 capital murder trial of Daryl Atkins. Defense attorneys alleged that the two prosecutors coached Atkin’s co-defendant during a pretrial meeting to make his testimony better conform to physical evidence, and withheld information during trial.
Prosecutors are arguably the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system. Learn more about their principal responsibilities and how to ensure they are held accountable.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
An Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judge today granted a new trial for Michael Anderson, saying that prosecutors acted improperly at his August trial. In a seven-page ruling the judge found prosecutors’ withholding of a videotaped interview with the sole eyewitness, and a jailhouse informant’s plea deal, could have blindsided his defense attorneys.
Learn more on the principal responsibilities of prosecutors and how to ensure they are held accountable.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Prompted by the recent exoneration of Gregory Taylor, North Carolina’s Attorney General has ordered an independent review of the state’s crime lab. The questionable practices of the state lab became a critical issue in Taylor’s case and were a major factor in his wrongful conviction.
Learn more about steps states should take to improve the reliability of forensic evidence.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Christopher Scott and Claude Simmons were officially exonerated on March 3rd by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after being released last October based on new evidence of innocence.According to prosecutors, it was mistaken eyewitness testimony that led to the wrongful conviction of the two men in 1997. Read The Justice Project’s blog to learn more about this case, and learn about recommendations for the state of Texas to improve their eyewitness identification procedures and to ensure accurate and reliable testimony.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A Pennsylvania Senate advisory committee is reviewing eyewitness identification practices for photographic lineups that may lead to misidentifications, and plans to produce a report late spring. Senators are also considering mandating procedures across the state.
Eyewitness identification is a critical tool for apprehending and prosecuting criminals. Yet, eyewitness misidentification is widely recognized as one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. The Justice Project outlines recommendations for policy improvements that will enable law enforcement to extract the most reliable evidence from eyewitnesses for use in a criminal investigation.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
On March 2nd a Criminal District Court judge blasted the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office for wiping clean a prolific jailhouse snitch’s record after his testimony helped send defendant Michael Anderson to death row.
Testimony from in-custody informants, often referred to as “jailhouse snitches” has been widely used in the American criminal justice system. The motive for jailhouse snitches to fabricate testimony dramatically increases when the state offers incentives for the incarcerated person in exchange for testimony. Unfortunately prosecutors often utilize jailhouse snitches despite their testimony being widely regarded as the least reliable form of evidence in the criminal justice system.
Click here to learn more about how states can improve the standards for admissibility of such testimony and help ensure that the most reliable evidence is making it into the courtroom and before the jury.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
On March 1 Texas Governor Rick Perry officially pardoned Timothy Cole, who was wrongfully convicted over two decades ago, and died in1999 while serving prison time for a rape he did not commit. Cole’s case was one of dozens profiled in The Justice Project’s report, Convicting the Innocent: Texas Justice Derailed. Cole’s case is a powerful reminder of the need for eyewitness identification reforms that increase the reliability of evidence and can help prevent tragic mistakes.
Eyewitness identification reform is one of the issues being addressed by the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions, created by the Texas Legislature to make recommendations on the prevention of wrongful convictions.
Monday, March 1, 2010
North Carolina’s Attorney General ordered a review of thousands of old cases that included evidence from a forensic lab to determine whether any evidence may have been withheld from defendants by the State Bureau of Investigation. The decision comes after the exoneration of Gregory Taylor. The Attorney General’s decision also highlights the need for significant forensic oversight. To learn more about the importance of forensic oversight, read The Justice Project’s policy review, Improving the Practices and Use of Forensic Science: A Policy Review.
Friday, February 26, 2010
The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) is meeting in Seattle this week to address the National Academies of Science (NAS) 2009 report, an attempt to improve the validity and accuracy of forensic science. To learn more about improving the practice and use of forensic science, read The Justice Project’s solutions and recommendations.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Prosecutors are the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system with the duty to protect the innocent and guard the rights of the accused. Unfortunately, cases continue to emerge that demonstrate a lack of accountability when these duties are disregarded. Earlier this week, a Massachusetts District Judge ruled not to impose sanctions on Boston a federal prosecutor for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence in a timely fashion.
Read The Justice Project’s recommendations and solutions for improving prosecutorial accountability.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Despite the high expectations many Americans have for crime labs and the field of forensic science–what specialists call the “CSI effect” –crime labs across the country struggle under backlogs and shortage of resources, threatening to make credible crime scene analysis a lost art, according to law enforcement officials and forensic specialists.
Read The Justice Project’s recommendations and solutions for improving the practices and standards of forensic science.
