by Jo Ellen Nott
Axon announced the launch of Draft One, a technology that the company calls its newest public safety product, on April 23, 2024. This AI system generates police reports from the audio of body-worn cameras and has raised concerns that the technology could worsen existing …
by Jo Ellen Nott
On June 17, 2024, Democratic Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order in Annapolis to issue more than 175,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions, seeking to rectify “historical wrongs” tied to marijuana enforcement. The pardons cover all simple marijuana possession charges and possession of …
by Jo Ellen Nott
A ProPublica investigation published in May 2024 has uncovered significant reliability issues with the New York Police Department’s (“NYPD”) public database for tracking officer discipline. The investigation looked at over 1,000 daily snapshots of the database since 2021 and found 88 percent of the …
by Jo Ellen Nott
20th Judicial District Court Judge Patrick Butler unsealed a troubling internal affairs report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (“CBI”) in June 2024 that revealed a decade of missed opportunities to address misconduct by Yvonne “Missy” Woods, a veteran DNA scientist.
For almost …
by Jo Ellen Nott
A congressional probe revealed that the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) has shared a decade’s worth of data with law enforcement. This information, known as metadata, is gathered from the outside of envelops and packages and does not require a warrant.
The USPS collects …
by Jo Ellen Nott
Drug testing is a commonly accepted form of compliance control used widely in the U.S. It is used in criminal investigations, child welfare checks, and probation or parole monitoring. Drug tests are often required while applying for employment or to retain employment. The results need …
by Jo Ellen Nott
A top FBI official is urging his agents to continue using a warrantless foreign surveillance program, Section 702, to justify the bureau’s surveillance powers. This program, which has been misused to target U.S. protesters, journalists, and a sitting member of Congress, was extended by …
by Jo Ellen Nott
Martin Lucio Santillan, now 50 years old, was fully exonerated in the Frank Crowley Criminal Courts in Dallas, Texas, on March 22, 2023. His 25 years of wrongful imprisonment ended because Centurion Ministries believed his innocence after a simple interview in 2008.
When …
by Jo Ellen Nott
The National Institute of Justice (“NIJ”) published a paper titled “The Impact of False or Misleading Forensic Evidence on Wrongful Convictions,” providing grim facts and figures on one of the worst injustices in the criminal justice system – wrongful convictions.
As of 2023, …
by Jo Ellen Nott
A recent study by Binghamton University researchers offers hope for identifying victims of fires where traditional methods fail. Fire victims can be identified through dental records if the teeth are preserved and such records exist. DNA testing is often the only way to identify …
