Tag Archive | US criminal system
A Powerful Challenge
A friend shared this post (HT: Rob Martin) from the Mennonite World Review that I couldn’t wait to post. (I have ideas for a new series coming next week.) Here is a snippet from the post that caught my attention: Did you know that every year 15,000 children age out of the foster care system in […]
TED on Wrongful Convictions: Part VI
In today’s final installment of TED’s wrongful conviction series, David Dow points out the uncomfortable connection between childhood environment and eventually being sentenced to the death sentence. About three quarters of death row inmates have a history in the juvenile justice system. How can we break this link and help end this link? Dow has […]
TED on Wrongful Convictions: Part V
In today’s installment of TED’s wrongful conviction series, James Lockyer gives a case study of a wrongfully convicted client of his, and the long journey to justice. Some of the thoughts from previous talks in this series (click the Wrongful Convictions category above or the Wrongful Convictions tag to see other posts in this series, […]
TED on Wrongful Convictions: Part IV
In today’s installment of TED’s wrongful conviction series, Peter Donnelly discusses how misunderstanding statistics and probability can lead to wrongful convictions. Even the “experts” can really mess this up. The problem is often experts in other disciplines attempting to apply statistics and probability, and failing miserably. However, often no one seems to notice. We would […]
TED on Wrongful Convictions: Part III
In today’s installment of TED’s wrongful conviction series, Rob Warden discusses false confessions. Why would anyone admit to a crime that they did not commit? There are several reasons. Some are predictable (to make the interrogation stop), while others are more surprising (police have lied and implied they have evidence that they don’t). Warden gives example cases […]
TED on Wrongful Convictions: Part II
In today’s installment of TED’s wrongful conviction series, Bryan Stevenson talks about the issue of justice. Our criminal justice system is supposed to give every accused the same protections, but does it? Stevenson points out where it does not, and how we might be able to make a difference.
TED on Wrongful Convictions: Part I
I recently came across a series of good talks about the phenomenon of wrongful convictions. There are numerous reasons for the problem, some of which will be discussed in the videos. I’ll spread them out over six days, so that my readers can give each talk the thought that it might deserve. The speakers come […]
Thoughts on the Criminal Justice System
In this TED Talk, Bryan Stevenson challenges his listeners to evaluate whether the current way that our criminal justice system is run is working. We spend billions of dollars, but rarely are willing to ask the hard questions about whether it is working. In short, I don’t think it is. Perhaps his best challenge: rather […]
No Longer Normal 