Listed below are just a few odds and ends of which Grits readers ought to be conscious, even when your correspondent hasn't had time to ...
Listed below are just a few odds and ends of which Grits readers ought to be conscious, even when your correspondent hasn't had time to focus as a lot as one may like on the weblog in latest weeks:
Too many prosecutors with time on their fingers
Travis County keeps old misdemeanor arrest warrants on the books that are 30 years old or extra. For what attainable goal, one wonders? The story arises as a result of, with the variety of hot-check circumstances quickly declining, prosecutors within the hot-check division haven't got something higher to do and have begun to attempt to accumulate on these previous circumstances. Possibly the County Lawyer ought to simply cut back staffing in that division commensurate with the decline in caseload as an alternative of sending them on fishing expeditions for previous unpaid tickets. Only a thought.
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
A police officer in Dallas has been indicted for an on-duty shooting for the primary time in 43 years. However an indictment is one factor, conviction one other. In Fort Value, charges were dismissed against a cop who shot a man holding a barbecue fork after the unique costs resulted in a mistrial. The state trooper indicted for perjury after Sandra Bland's arrest and dying within the Waller County Jail, however charges were dropped this week. Not solely is it tough to prosecute dangerous cops, it may be rattling laborious to fireside them: In San Antonio, a once-before-fired officer who'd been returned to the power by an arbitrator, was once again given his job back by way of arbitration after he'd fled the scene of a criminal offense the place his gun was used to shoot somebody and a bag of cocaine was present in his truck. He didn't report his involvement to his supervisors and misled investigators on the scene, however was let again on the power. About the one method Texas cops are ever efficiently prosecuted is that if the feds do it, like with this guy.
Invoice dying does not halt bail reform
Texas laws to require courts to make use of danger assessments when setting bail quantities died this 12 months as an business which has in essence captured its regulators demonstrably exercised management over the legislative course of. However arguments towards the follow aren't going away and neither is the bail litigation in Harris County, which appears prefer it may find yourself on the US Supreme Court docket earlier than all is finished. As evidenced within the subsequent merchandise, Texas' hasn't fared effectively there, just lately, fwiw.
Texas circumstances outlined SCOTUS capital punishment debate this 12 months
Commentators from the left and right all agree that Texas circumstances - particularly ones the place the Court docket of Legal Appeals has embarrassed the state over reactionary, reflexively pro-government rulings that fly within the face of cause and customary sense - are roughly defining the phrases of debate over the dying penalty lately on the US Supreme Court docket.
Forensic (not-quite) Science Replace
How a lot science is in forensic science? Less than you think. However the tuff-on-crime crowd clings to unscientific (or extra precisely, pre-scientific) reliance on longstanding forensic practices with higher-than-zero false optimistic charges, lots of which have been portrayed as all however foolproof in courtrooms throughout America. This podcast provides overview of latest federal developments and their implications.
Vacation Studying
Listed below are a few tutorial articles Grits has downloaded and intends to learn over the July 4th vacation:
Too many prosecutors with time on their fingers
Travis County keeps old misdemeanor arrest warrants on the books that are 30 years old or extra. For what attainable goal, one wonders? The story arises as a result of, with the variety of hot-check circumstances quickly declining, prosecutors within the hot-check division haven't got something higher to do and have begun to attempt to accumulate on these previous circumstances. Possibly the County Lawyer ought to simply cut back staffing in that division commensurate with the decline in caseload as an alternative of sending them on fishing expeditions for previous unpaid tickets. Only a thought.
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
A police officer in Dallas has been indicted for an on-duty shooting for the primary time in 43 years. However an indictment is one factor, conviction one other. In Fort Value, charges were dismissed against a cop who shot a man holding a barbecue fork after the unique costs resulted in a mistrial. The state trooper indicted for perjury after Sandra Bland's arrest and dying within the Waller County Jail, however charges were dropped this week. Not solely is it tough to prosecute dangerous cops, it may be rattling laborious to fireside them: In San Antonio, a once-before-fired officer who'd been returned to the power by an arbitrator, was once again given his job back by way of arbitration after he'd fled the scene of a criminal offense the place his gun was used to shoot somebody and a bag of cocaine was present in his truck. He didn't report his involvement to his supervisors and misled investigators on the scene, however was let again on the power. About the one method Texas cops are ever efficiently prosecuted is that if the feds do it, like with this guy.
Invoice dying does not halt bail reform
Texas laws to require courts to make use of danger assessments when setting bail quantities died this 12 months as an business which has in essence captured its regulators demonstrably exercised management over the legislative course of. However arguments towards the follow aren't going away and neither is the bail litigation in Harris County, which appears prefer it may find yourself on the US Supreme Court docket earlier than all is finished. As evidenced within the subsequent merchandise, Texas' hasn't fared effectively there, just lately, fwiw.
Texas circumstances outlined SCOTUS capital punishment debate this 12 months
Commentators from the left and right all agree that Texas circumstances - particularly ones the place the Court docket of Legal Appeals has embarrassed the state over reactionary, reflexively pro-government rulings that fly within the face of cause and customary sense - are roughly defining the phrases of debate over the dying penalty lately on the US Supreme Court docket.
Forensic (not-quite) Science Replace
How a lot science is in forensic science? Less than you think. However the tuff-on-crime crowd clings to unscientific (or extra precisely, pre-scientific) reliance on longstanding forensic practices with higher-than-zero false optimistic charges, lots of which have been portrayed as all however foolproof in courtrooms throughout America. This podcast provides overview of latest federal developments and their implications.
Vacation Studying
Listed below are a few tutorial articles Grits has downloaded and intends to learn over the July 4th vacation:
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