In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom
Lacino Hamilton spent 26 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit before being exonerated in 2020 after DNA evidence cleared him.
Lacino Hamilton Jul 12, 2023
Justice in America Episode 27: Junk Forensic Science
Josie Duffy Rice and guest co-host Zak Cheney Rice talk with Radley Balko, opinion journalist at the Washington Post and author of The Cadaver and the Country Dentist, about faulty forensic science.
Apr 08, 2020
Arkansas Executed Ledell Lee. Posthumous Testing Will Most Likely Prove He Was Innocent, Lawsuit Says
Lee’s family wants officials in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to turn over evidence that was used to convict and sentence him to death. The family says that evidence could posthumously exonerate him.
Lauren Gill Jan 23, 2020
The Appeal Podcast: The Cruel Roadblocks to Getting Innocent People Out of Prison
With Daniel Harawa, assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
Adam H. Johnson Dec 05, 2019
Hundreds of Victim and Witness DNA Profiles Removed From New York City Database
Advocates say the removals are more evidence of a troubling and unregulated law enforcement tool, overseen by the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Aaron Morrison Nov 26, 2019
The Myth Of Technology As Equalizer
Spotlights like this one provide original commentary and analysis on pressing criminal justice issues of the day. You can read them each day in our newsletter, The Daily Appeal. The criminal legal system is unequal. Technology was supposed to help. But most of the time, technological advances end up magnifying inequality instead. Consider an example as […]
Sarah Lustbader Nov 25, 2019
Why Are Prosecutors Still Seeking to Execute People Who Have Innocence Claims and Untested DNA?
In these last two months of 2019, one man has been executed and two others are facing execution despite claims that they can show they don’t belong on death row.
Lauren Gill Nov 22, 2019
Spotlight: Kevin Cooper’s Case Exemplifies Decades of Systemic Failures
Corrupt cops, lazy lawyers, and cowardly politicians: Kevin Cooper’s case exemplifies three and a half decades of systemic failures
Sarah Lustbader Jun 20, 2019
Judge Attacks NYPD Practice of Seizing Teens’ DNA Without Parental Consent
The decision also held that the city’s routine storage of DNA profiles from nonconvicted people in a permanent database violates state law.
George Joseph Jan 10, 2019
Law Enforcement Takes Unearned Victory Lap for Capture of One of Their Own — The Golden State Killer
It has been over a week since California law enforcement announced what many have waited to hear for more than 40 years — that they identified and captured the man they believe to be the Golden State Killer, thought to be responsible for at least 12 murders and nearly 50 rapes between northern and southern California from […]
Amelia McDonell-Parry May 09, 2018
Jailhouse Informant In High-Profile Texas Murder Cases Comes Under New Scrutiny
When Steven Shockey was arrested at a San Diego port of entry in December 2011, he knew his luck had run out. The 52-year-old was trying to re-enter the United States after jumping bail and fleeing to Mexico because of an arrest in Williamson County, Texas, for the aggravated assault of his ex-wife. Because of […]
Max Rivlin-Nadler Mar 30, 2018
Symbolic “Justice”: California’s New Rape Kit Laws Fail to Address Existing Problems with Investigating Rape
Dispatches is our series from organizers, attorneys, officials, and others working at the frontlines of local criminal justice reform.
Heather Marlowe Nov 20, 2017
Why Would Prosecutors Refuse DNA Testing?
In this Oregon capital case, it could ensure that the state doesn’t execute the wrong man.
Jessica Pishko Oct 13, 2017
Gaston County D.A. accused of withholding evidence in murder case
Defense lawyers are asking a judge in North Carolina to hold Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell in contempt over allegations that he has failed to release files relevant to the investigation and prosecution of Mark Carver. Carver was convicted of strangling University of North Carolina student Irina Yarmolenko in 2011 and sentenced to life without parole. […]
Larry Hannan Jul 23, 2017