By Robin L. Barton
Scott Peterson’s appeals claim of media taint is hardly unique. But it’s getting more and more unlikely to be successful. And in many ways the claim begs the question:if Scott couldn’t get a fair trial in San Mateo County, where could he get one?
By Erik Roskes
From the time of the philosopher-physician Maimonides, individuals with mental impairments were known to be unable to participate meaningfully in judicial proceedings. Thus, for at least a millennium, it has been the expectation in civilized societies that individuals accused of crimes must be competent in order to plead, go to trial, and be sentenced.
By Julie Stewart
Concerns about the Office of the Pardon Attorney’s misconduct are bipartisan and cut across administrations.
By Mai Fernandez
The Sandusky trial underscores the courage required to testify about such crimes. “The victims… have shown great strength and courage,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly, by “candidly and sometimes chillingly telling their stories, not only to the jury in a packed courtroom… but also to the entire world.”
By Shareka Newton
California is a three strikes state. That’s all I could think of when my father’s mother cavalierly told me that day in May, “Your dad’s in jail.”
By Vanita Gupta and Alex Stamm
The best hope for restoring our elderly prisoner population to sensible, manageable levels is to scale back our sentencing laws.
By William D. Burrell
Decades ago, criminal homicide patterns pointed to subcultures of violence in urban areas beset with socioeconomic problems. Now, recent homicide patterns point to a disturbing realization, a national culture of violence revolving around guns.
By Erik Roskes
Although he abused his service to the church, Mr. R, a stroke victim who is a convicted child molester, deserves the same care and support as any other priest who has developed age-related dementia and other health problems.
By Timothy Lynch
Even though there is no bigotry at work, stop and frisk is a scandal because the program systemically denies thousands of that city’s residents of their constitutional right against unreasonable searches and detentions.
By Mansfield Frazier
Noted scholar, researcher and epidemiologist Ernest Drucker, in his recent book, A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America, utilizes his keen mind and decades of experience in an attempt to frame the ongoing debate over mass incarceration in America as a public health concern.
new & notable June 18, 2013
Law enforcement needs to resolve the long-running dispute between supporters of evidence-based policing and practitioners of experiential...
June 17, 2013
U.S. cops are increasingly using micro cameras to record their daily activities—and defend themselves, if necessary, against charge...
new & notable June 14, 2013
Intimate partner violence found to be leading cause worldwide of non fatal injuries to women, according to an international study of orth...
new & notable June 13, 2013
Nearly half of youths in containment experience theft and almost a third are threatened or beaten, according to the Office of Juvenile Ju...
new & notable June 12, 2013
In the year after the Rockefeller drug laws were repealed, the rate of felony offenders sent to drug treatment rose sharply, reports the ...
June 11, 2013
A few states—such as New York—are expanding orders of civil protection and establishing special courts for teens at risk from...
June 10, 2013
DOJ's long-awaited 'Vision 21' Report proposes a 'radically different' approach for dealing with crime victims
