Updated on May 25, 2021 at 2:45 pm
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
In the year since George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck, more than 260 bills have been approved in state legislatures to ban potentially deadly law enforcement practices and otherwise reform police departments across the country.
Beyond its breadth, the legislation is notable for its speed, said Amber Widgery, a National Conference of State Legislatures research analyst and expert on law enforcement policy. She pointed to a police misconduct bill in Iowa that passed in roughly 48 hours. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
Updated on May 25, 2021 at 2:44 pm
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
In the year since George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck, more than 260 bills have been approved in state legislatures to ban potentially deadly law enforcement practices and otherwise reform police departments across the country.
Beyond its breadth, the legislation is notable for its speed, said Amber Widgery, a National Conference of State Legislatures research analyst and expert on law enforcement policy. She pointed to a police misconduct bill in Iowa that passed in roughly 48 hours. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
For decades eyewitness identification was considered the gold standard when it came to evidence used to gain a conviction.
In the famous courtroom drama â12 Angry Men,â rated by the American Bar Association as one of the 25 greatest legal movies of all time, juror No. 8, played by Henry Fonda, earnestly advocated for a not-guilty verdict.
Fonda started out as the only not-guilty vote. The turning point of the deliberations occurred when an older juror recalled that the stateâs prized eyewitness, who had observed the murder through her window as she laid in bed, had red marks on her nose left from wearing eyeglasses. The older juror asked a reserved bespectacled juror, âDo you wear your glasses when you go to bed?â The bespectacled juror responded, âNo, I donât. No one wears eyeglasses to bed.â
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are in prison, serving sentences based on forensic evidence like fingerprints, gunfire analysis and even teeth marks. While forensic science can provide crucial evidence during criminal investigations, it’s not perfect and the implications of how highly it is regarded in court proceedings is a problem that can lead to wrongful arrests and life-altering convictions. A new book titled “Autopsy of a Crime Lab: Exposing the Flaws in Forensics,” explores the issues at play and the impact of forensic science in our lives and justice system.
Listen: Duke University Law Professor Brandon L. Garrett on his new book exploring the origins, the uses and the flaws of forensic science.
Wrongful convictions and dna revolution twenty five years freeing innocent | Criminal law cambridge.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cambridge.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.