Local Police Amassing Own DNA Databases

A Supreme Court ruling recently determined that DNA collections at the time of arrest constitute a Constitutional search. In other words, even if you aren’t convicted of an offense, the government can take your DNA. And while this ruling will set the stage for even more liberal DNA seizures at the state and federal levels, a recent article from the New York Times reveals that cities are already taking pretty big liberties in collecting their own DNA databases, without the pesky regulations of the state or feds. [Read more…]

Sign of the Times: Sesame Street Film for Children of Incarcerated Parents

The Sesame Street show that so many of us grew up with has changed considerably over the years. Old characters have moved on and news ones have shown up. But, perhaps the most significant thing the Sesame Workshop has done is a recent attempt to address the heartbreaking number of children who have a parent in prison. This is the world we live in. Where the “land of the free” is ironically the most incarcerated nation in the world, and the children are truly paying the cost. [Read more…]

New Criminal Statutes & Mandatory Minimums

Historically, law enforcement and crime and punishment was left to the states. The states wrote the majority of criminal laws and enforced them as well. But, over the past several decades, the federal government has played an increasing role in the criminal justice system—enacting new criminal laws at an alarming rate of about 500 per decade with a grand total of around 4,500 federal criminal statutes. A recent editorial in the Washington Post aptly equates this rambunctious federal criminal system to a “Sheriff with attention-deficit disorder, haphazardly criminalizing this and that behavior in order to express righteous alarm about various wrongs that excite attention.”

[Read more…]

Taking DNA Samples When Arrested is Allowed by Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled last week that police can swab arrestees for a DNA sample as a booking procedure. This means, you don’t have to be guilty of a crime in order for your genetic material to be taken and owned by the government. The (somewhat) good news is that not all states follow the same protocol when it comes to collecting DNA. [Read more…]

Polygraph Evidence: If Courts Don’t Allow Them, Why do Police Use Them?

The use of  so-called “lie detectors” to solve crimes and gain convictions has been largely overstated by the media and the big screen. As a matter of fact, many states don’t allow the results of a polygraph test to be admitted in court at all. The fact is, they are unreliable. Their unreliability is widely recognized by criminal justice professionals (aside from the polygraph administrators) but police agencies continue to use them.

Polygraph machines work by measuring certain physical qualities and responses, namely patterns in your heart rate. As questions are read, the test administrator analyzes these patterns and reportedly determines whether you are being honest or not. But despite what these analysts would have you believe, it’s not an exact science. [Read more…]

Congress Creates Over-Criminalization Task Force

There is a lot to complain about in the U.S. criminal justice system. And many of those complaints (mass incarceration, mandatory minimums, etc.) have a whole lot to do with over-criminalization in general. To that end, the House Judiciary Committee has created a task force to look at over-criminalization at the federal level and issue recommendations. [Read more…]

How Being Poor Could Land You In Jail

Being poor isn’t a crime. Or is it? Americans living in poverty are more likely to be involved in the justice system than those from other economic groups. It’s partly because they have little to no access to employment and the means by which to keep themselves and their families fed with a roof over their heads. It’s also because high crime rates in poor neighborhoods puts the citizens of those communities in greater contact with police and therefore at a greater risk of arrest (ex. stop and frisk policies of the  NYPD). But, there’s another problem at play here and it involves jailing people based solely on the amount of money they have. [Read more…]

Supreme Court Rules on DUI Blood Draws

Score a victory for civil liberties and protections. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that police generally must seek a warrant before drawing blood in a suspected drunk driving case. In a section of criminal law that often turns due process on its head, this ruling is a positive one indeed. [Read more…]

What You Should Know About Recording Police

Many of us no longer feel like the police are here to protect us. As a collective, citizens are growing more and more suspicious and even afraid of police officers. When we see cases of police brutality and the militarization of law enforcement, it only makes us more wary of the badge. This distrust has led to citizens arming themselves with cameras—looking to hold cops accountable when it seems like the system won’t. [Read more…]

Examples of Our Growing Police State?

When you call the United States a “police state”, people either look at you like you are a paranoid conspiracy theorist or they nod their head in agreement. While the thought of the “land of the free” being anything but free is troubling, to be sure, there are signs that the people of this nation are being increasingly controlled by a system that wants to criminalize everything and repress any opposition. [Read more…]