In 2018, former governor Walker and lawmakers agreed in principle to shut down the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prisons, which have a history of abuse. The idea was to replace them with several new facilities, including a new state prison for serious juvenile...
In 2016, the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report on the reliability of various forensic science techniques. The report was earth-shaking for the forensic science community. It concluded that there was insufficient...
Pre-trial detention can be devastating. Imagine being accused of a crime and told you have no choice but to wait in jail until trial. This could happen because you’re assigned bail that you can’t afford or because bail has been denied altogether. It’s not supposed to...
In 2005, an infant died in Amy Wilkerson’s care. She picked him up to feed him a bottle, and he made a terrible face, almost gasping for air, she says. Then he went limp. She called 911 and performed CPR. The baby was taken to a hospital, but he was taken off of life...
In 2018’s Carpenter v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement is generally not entitled to use cell site location information unless it obtains a warrant for the information. This means that state and federal law enforcement agencies cannot...
Too often society has imposed a different standard on persons convicted of child sex offenses than it does other offenders. Even though studies show recidivism rates to be low, many people don’t object to more severe treatment of child sex offenders because of a...
Every year before Halloween, newspapers publish maps showing the location of registered sex offenders in various neighborhoods. The idea is to keep children safe from sexual abuse when they trick-or-treat. However, there is no evidence that children are at risk...
Arthur L. was playing his music loudly and honking his horn. That got the attention of a California highway patrol officer, who began following Arthur from a distance. The officer intended to initiate a traffic stop but didn’t take any action like activating his...
The state of Mississippi tried Curtis Flowers for murder six times. He was convicted in four trials, while another two ended in mistrials. Yet each of the convictions was overturned. In 2010, after his sixth trial, Flowers was given the death penalty. In June of 2019,...
In Wisconsin and throughout the United States, adults are relatively free to engage in consensual sexual activity. As long as the activity is only between adults and everyone consents, it isn’t illegal to engage in fantasy. Yet here and all across the U.S., law...
