There’s Still Hope for Justice in America

All the words, tweets, and bragging coming out of the White House about how tough the new administration will be on crime and criminals, have hope for justiceforgotten a simple but critical idea—where is justice in all these efforts?  There’s still hope for justice in America.  Recently, the New York Times writer, James Forman, Jr. wrote a great essay about …

Why the Criminal Justice System is Better Now

criminal justice systemLately, the media has been bashing the criminal justice system—starting with cops’ behavior in the streets to the broken child protection system that doesn’t protect children.  Is the system really this broken?  I’ve worked for almost forty years as a prosecutor and Public Defender.  Here are five reasons why the criminal justice system is better now:

  1.  Juries are

Science to Reform the Criminal Justice System

criminal justice systemHere’s a great editorial from the New York Times from law professor, Adam Benforado. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/opinion/flawed-humans-flawed-justice.html?ref=opinion He argues that our present system is old and based on inaccurate ways we assume people act.  In order to reform the criminal justice system, he argues, we should apply the results of new scientific research about human behavior.  What are the faulty …