Year: 2017
To avoid being a victim of a summer crime keep the following tips in mind. Most people enjoy the summer. Warm temperatures and much-needed vacations are almost universally loved. However, summer is not without its downsides. Certain crimes, including household crimes, peak in the summer months. To avoid being a victim of a summer crime,…
Texas is one of just seven states nationally that treats 17-year-old offenders as adults in the criminal justice system. That may be about to change if a bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility becomes law. A bill to raise the age from 17 to 18 was passed in the House last week, reported…
The announcement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that he will end an independent panel set up to raise scientific standards in forensics, has provoked a backlash. Sessions announced this month that he has suspended a Justice Department review of widespread flaws in FBI forensic expert court testimony. The announcement comes on the back of…
A Texas man who was convicted of the murder of a Putt-Putt golf course assistant manager has been granted a stay of execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Paul Storey, 32, was convicted in 2008 for the murder of Jonas Cherry. He was scheduled to die this month, but concerns that defense attorneys…
Various social apps are a form of communication but can they truly be used to communicate a threat? Like it or not, social media is a part of everyday life. Facebook has more than one billion active users, and Twitter counts 317 million people among its active users. Furthermore, a growing number of people use…
The number of exonerations in the United States rose again in 2016. Many of the wrongful convictions were in Texas and more than half of them were related to cases in which no crime was committed. The annual report from the National Registry of Exonerations found the number of exonerations rose to 166 last year,…
At the time of the men’s arrest, police interrogators threatened them with the death penalty. As reported in the Washington Post, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe recently pardoned four men who were wrongfully convicted of the 1997 sexual assault and murder of an 18-year-old woman. The police detective in charge of the original investigation is now…
When your blood pressure is spiking and your heart is beating out of your chest, it’s easy to forget your rights. No matter how many police or courtroom dramas you’ve watched, few things can truly prepare you for being taken into police custody or questioned by the cops. When your blood pressure is spiking and…
Extradition involves two countries cooperating to transfer an individual from one country to another to stand trial for a crime. Hollywood director Roman Polanski recently made headlines again when the Supreme Court of Poland rejected the Polish government’s request to extradite Polanski to the United States. The extradition battle has been ongoing since 1978, when…
The scope of hate crimes in Texas will expand if a bill to make all attacks on first responders hate crimes becomes law. The bill introduced in the Texas legislature would increase penalties for attacks against any first responder, including police, firefighters and EMTs, and make them hate crimes. Texas governor Greg Abbott spoke in…