Publications & Testimony

Items: 5661 — 5670

Oct 19, 2004

Chicago Tribune Investigates Forensic Science and Wrongful Convictions

A five-part Chicago Tribune inves­ti­ga­tion of foren­sics in the court­room has revealed that flawed test­ing analy­sis, ques­tion­able sci­ence once con­sid­ered reli­able, and shod­dy crime lab prac­tices can often lead to wrong­ful con­vic­tions. Developments in DNA tech­nol­o­gy have helped shed new light on these prob­lems by reveal­ing the shaky sci­en­tif­ic foun­da­tions of tech­niques like fin­ger­print­ing, firearm iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, arson inves­ti­ga­tion, and bite-mark com­par­i­son. A review of 200 DNA and death row…

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Oct 19, 2004

NEW VOICES: Bush and Kerry Express Views on Executing Juvenile Offenders

In a forum host­ed by the New Voters Project, U.S. Presidential can­di­dates George Bush and John Kerry expressed their views on exe­cut­ing juve­nile offend­ers. ​“Federal law pro­hibits exe­cu­tion of those under 18 when the offense was com­mit­ted, and I see no rea­son to change that statute,” said President Bush. Senator John Kerry stat­ed, ​“I do not think that exe­cut­ing minors is good pol­i­cy.” (Knight-Ridder, October 17, 2004). On October 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argu­ments in Roper v.

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Oct 18, 2004

INNOCENCE: After 19 Years, Innocent Man to Walk Free

The Utah Attorney General’s office has rec­om­mend­ed that Bruce Dallas Goodman’s mur­der con­vic­tion be set aside as a result of new DNA tests that have con­firmed Goodman’s stead­fast claims of inno­cence. Goodman was con­vict­ed in 1984 for the mur­der of his girl­friend, Sherry Ann Fales, who was raped, sodom­ized, beat­en to death and aban­doned off an inter­state exit, a crime that qual­i­fied for the death penal­ty. Since his arrest, Goodman has main­tained that he did not mur­der Fales, and the state’s…

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