It's almost 2020, and cameras are everywhere. Small powerful video and audio recording devices are found on phones, doorbells, strapped to the helmets of skiers and bikers, and increasingly pinned to the chest of uniformed police officers. The vast majority of police-citizen encounters are now recorded, and what is shown in such "body worn camera" (BWC) footage (or the lack thereof) has become a major aspect of every criminal case.
Liberty's Last Champions
The core concepts of our freedom, the presumption of innocence and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt are in jeopardy. Over the course of a 40+ year career talking to juries I had been confident that the women and men that served believed in these core values.
Supreme Court considers upon-arrest DNA collection practices
Earlier this month, we noted that Colorado lawmakers are considering an expansion of the state's criminal DNA database. In addition to collecting samples from individuals convicted of felonies, Colorado may opt to collect samples from individuals convicted of misdemeanors. Many civil liberties experts believe that such a measure would infringe too greatly on the privacy of low-level offenders. And unfortunately, the next step Colorado could seek to take would be to obtain samples from individuals who have been arrested but not yet convicted of any crime.
Misleading labels attached to those convicted of crimes
Certain federal and state laws mandate that the public be warned when certain kinds of convicted offenders move into a given residential area. However, many individuals convicted of certain sex offenses do not actually fit the profile of the labels that they are compelled to wear.
