- Medical professionals must not act as law enforcement in child abuse investigations concludes this paper by the Illinois Family Defense Center (IFDC). Doctors all too often jump to incorrect conclusions about the cause of a child's injuries, resulting in false findings of abuse and the needless destruction of families. The IFDC secures reversals of abuse and neglect findings for 80-90% of its clients, and comments that "The error rate in other jurisdictions including New York has also been documented as reaching similar staggeringly high levels."
- The standards used to determine entitlement to free legal counsel differ radically among states according to this new report from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). Many states charge 'application fees' for those seeking counsel, while the income levels used to determine whether a person receives free or subsidized counsel range from 100% to as much as 250% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
- A program to improve the defense of military veterans will shortly begin operations in Columbia County using money granted by the Office of Indigent Legal Services, according to this coverage in the Register Star.
- $12 million in grants to fund caseload reduction and quality improvement in upstate New York were recently slated for release to 45 counties, as reported in this New York Law Journal article.
- Courts in all five boroughs of New York City have cut the time from arrest to arraignment to under 24 hours for the first time. This report in the New York Times credits a new computer system, named CourtStat, for the change.
- Law enforcement sharing arrestee information with Federal immigration authorities doesn’t seem to have reduced crime, or changed arrest patterns, according to this new study published by George Mason University. The findings, based on an analysis of data from the nation’s largest cities, suggest that neither the fears that police would discriminate against minorities, nor the hopes that the program would reduce crime overall, have been realized.
Subscribe: