The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees anyone accused of a crime the right to a trial by a fair and impartial jury. Many believe that to be fair and impartial, the makeup of the jury (gender, race, socioeconomic status, etc.) should reflect the...
When does someone become an adult, capable of making adult decisions and fully responsible for the consequences when they make poor choices? In the United States, the number that we’ve chosen is age 18. This is the age of legal adulthood in most respects. But should...
You’ve likely watched police procedural shows in which a body language expert is able to tell that someone is hiding something. You may have seen books about “how to spot a liar,” or even TED Talks about how to use your own body language to control the messages you...
The technology we all carry around in our pockets has made it easier than ever for businesses and the government to invade our privacy. One of the strongest examples of government privacy intrusion is what is known as a “geofence warrant.” Use of this investigative...
There are two criminal justice systems in the United States: one for adults and another for minors. The principle underlying the juvenile justice system is that children are still developing, which means they should be considered less culpable for the things they do...
If you follow the news, you see it all the time: Someone being interrogated and refusing to answer by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. Why can they refuse to answer? And what are they citing in doing so? This is an important topic for anyone facing criminal...
Previous posts on this blog have focused on the problem of “junk science.” Shows like CSI and other police procedurals have given the public the impression that forensic science is highly advanced and almost never wrong. Sadly, that’s far from true, but the...
In the realm of criminal justice, its seems that no evidence is stronger than a confession of guilt. Suspects confess, and jurors believe them, because no one would admit to a heinous crime that they didn’t commit. Or would they? Sadly, false confessions are a serious...
Police officers in New Jersey often use coercive interrogation tactics to get suspects to confess to crimes. This is a dangerous practice, especially when the suspect is a juvenile. This article discusses how this could affect minors and provides some tips you can use...
There has been a nationwide reckoning in recent years about how quickly interactions between police officers and citizens can escalate and become deadly. At the same time, there have also been calls to address racial disparities in policing, a problem backed by...
