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Justice Department Holding DNA Testing Program Hostage

By Kirk Bloodsworth of The Justice Project

The day President Bush signed the Innocence Protection Act into law was one of the proudest days of my life. The law, part of the Justice for All Act of 2004, included a new program named after me: the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program.

The program provides federal grants to states to conduct DNA testing that can exonerate the innocent and help identify the truly guilty. At the time, the program’s creation seemed a fitting end to a terrible chapter in my life, my 20-year struggle to prove my innocence after being convicted and sentenced to die for the brutal rape and murder of Dawn Hamilton, a 9-year-old girl I had never met.

Given my life experience, however, I should have known that the struggle for justice never ends. Without adequate funding and the proper implementation, a law on the books is just words on paper, even if the words come from Congress. And that’s how this Administration and its Department of Justice are treating the Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA program.

To date, Congress has appropriated nearly $14 million for the Bloodsworth program. Yet DoJ has yet to approve a single grant application or send the first dollar to states requesting the funding.

Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Today I’ll be at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Justice Department officials will try to explain away their failure to carry out this critical program. Based on the history of the IPA, however, it’s clear that DoJ’s failure is no accident. The department has been against this program from the beginning. They opposed it when the House passed the legislation by the resounding vote of 393 to 14. They opposed it when it passed the Senate. And they opposed it when it was signed into law.

Unable to stop the law from being enacted, DoJ is now holding the program’s funding hostage and denying people with claims of innocence the chance to prove it.

It’s simply inexcusable.

Post-conviction DNA testing is a powerful means for ensuring public safety. It has not only led to the exoneration of over 200 wrongfully convicted individuals, it has also confirmed many a suspect’s guilt. When states are denied funding for post-conviction DNA testing, they are being denied the truth.

My life is proof of the injustice that can happen when our criminal justice system makes mistakes and the power of DNA testing to enable those mistakes to be corrected. After my arrest and conviction in 1984, I waited 8 years, 11 months and 19 days in prison, including two years on Maryland’s death row, before DNA testing proved my innocence. Then I waited another 10 years for the prosecution to run the DNA profile of the perpetrator in state and federal databases to find out that the real rapist and murderer was a man on my cell block who was in prison for another assault.

Quite simply, had it not been for DNA testing, I would have died an innocent man in prison.

Mistakes in the criminal justice system are not new. The organization I work for, The Justice Project, has been studying the leading factors of wrongful convictions and advocating for meaningful reform to prevent further miscarriages of justice. Post-conviction DNA testing offers the unique opportunity to correct the mistakes of our criminal justice system while helping it to become more fair and reliable. With states being denied access to the appropriated millions for DNA testing, errors will likely go uncorrected and further mistakes are certain.

I don’t have all the answers to the problems facing our criminal justice system, but I do know that there are other cases like mine out there. I feel a personal responsibility to each state that has been denied this grant money for post-conviction DNA testing. As this program bears my name, I feel it is my obligation to ensure that it is funded and implemented as it was meant to be. No one should have to wait 20 years for justice.

The Department of Justice has the money and the guidance from Congress needed to make the Bloodsworth DNA testing program work. The time for excuses is over.

Kirk Noble Bloodsworth is the first person sentenced to death row in the United States to be exonerated by DNA evidence. He is the program officer of The Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization that works to address unfairness and inaccuracy in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the capital punishment system.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Governor Schwarzenegger: Make California a Leader in Improving the Criminal Justice System

(There are some good, common-sense bills on the Governor’s desk. Here are a few that the Governor should sign. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

By John Terzano, The Justice Project

Health care reform may have stalled in California, but Governor Schwarzenegger still has a chance to make the state a leader in fixing a national problem: wrongful convictions. Three major criminal justice reform bills are now on the Governor’s desk.  The measures are designed to safeguard against wrongful convictions by making practical changes to eyewitness identification procedures, reforming the process by which confessions are attained, and regulating the use of jailhouse snitch testimony. 

With more than 200 exonerations to date in California it is critical that measures are enacted before more mistakes are made.  The governor has the ability to not only protect the innocent but enhance public safety and the integrity of California’s law enforcement by signing these important bills into law, and setting a standard for the nation.

The first in this trio of vital legislation-Senate Bill 756-addresses the development of new guidelines for statewide eyewitness identification procedures.

Eyewitness identification is notably unreliable.  Study after study has shown that faulty eyewitness identification is one of the most common causes of wrongful conviction.  In fact, it has played a pivotal role in 75% of the cases nationwide where DNA later exonerated the person convicted.  See The Justice Project’s policy review Improving Eyewitness Identification Procedures at http://www.thejusticeproject.org/solution/eyewitness-id.html for more information.

Practical changes to identification procedures like cautionary instructions to witnesses, effective use of fillers, full documentation of lineup procedures, witness statements of certainty, and double-blind administration can significantly improve the accuracy of eyewitness identifications.

In addition to this critical reform, recording custodial interrogations (Senate Bill 511) and corroborating jailhouse snitch testimony (Senate Bill 609) have been shown to help prevent wrongful convictions. 

False confessions have played a significant role in wrongful convictions in California, and in approximately 20% of wrongful convictions nationwide.  Because confessions are often viewed as the most powerful evidence at trial, other types of evidence that point to a defendant’s innocence might be disregarded in lieu of a confession.  Decades of psychological research have demonstrated how some traditional and aggressive interrogation techniques can lead to false confessions.  Senate Bill 511 will require electronic recording of interrogations in both juvenile and adult cases and will protect law enforcement from false claims of coercion or abuse by providing an objective record.  For more information see The Justice Project’s policy review Electronic Recording of Custodial Interrogations at http://www.thejusticeproject.org/solution/interrogations.html

Senate Bill 609 would require corroboration for jailhouse snitch testimony, meeting one of the best practices for reforming the use of snitch testimony identified in The Justice Project’s newest release, Jailhouse Snitch Testimony: A Policy Review at http://www.thejusticeproject.org/solution/snitch/. Jailhouse snitch testimony is widely regarded as the least reliable form of evidence in the criminal justice system.  Higher standards for admitting snitch testimony at trial must be put in place to protect the innocent. 

Law enforcement, prosecutors, and the community will all benefit from the adoption of these three reform measures.  Implementation of these bills will result in stronger prosecutions, more efficient proceedings, and more reliable outcomes in criminal cases giving the public greater confidence in the criminal justice system.

Given the many documented cases of injustice in California and across the nation, the need for improvements within the criminal justice system is especially great.  The time is now for Governor Schwarzenegger to take a step forward toward criminal justice reform.  We hope that he will see the benefits of these bills to California and the nation and sign them into law.

The ACLU Action alert is at www.aclunc.org/justice

John F. Terzano is the President of The Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization that works to address unfairness and inaccuracy in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the capital punishment system.

California

California Needs Higher Standards for the Use of “Snitch” Testimony

By John F. Terzano of The Justice Project

Harold Hall was only 18 years old when he was sent to prison.  He spent nearly two decades of his life in a California prison for crimes he did not commit.

Hall was wrongfully convicted of double murder in 1985 based in part on evidence provided by a jailhouse informant who fabricated a confession Hall allegedly made to him. 

Jailhouse informant testimony is widely regarded as the least reliable form of testimony in the criminal justice system, but unfortunately in Mr. Hall’s case and numerous others, uncorroborated testimony from unscrupulous jailhouse informants, or “snitches,” is still used by prosecutors to obtain convictions.

According to a San Francisco Magazine study, unreliable testimony of informants was a factor in approximately 20% of all wrongful convictions in California.  This problem extends nationwide as shown in a study by The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, which identifies snitch testimony as the leading cause of wrongful convictions in U.S. capital cases.

Higher standards for admitting snitch testimony at trial must be put in place to protect innocent people like Mr. Hall from the consequences of unreliable, incentive-driven testimony. Best practices to safeguard against perjured testimony include:

  • Mandatory, automatic pretrial disclosures of information related to jailhouse informant testimony
  • Corroboration of the facts to which an informant testifies, special jury instructions
  • Higher standards for the admissibility of snitch testimony at trial.

(Please visit The Justice Project’s website for more details on snitch testimony reforms. http://www.thejustic….  Also the ACLU of Northern California has an effort underway to help end wrongful convictions.)

A vital piece of legislation for raising the standards of use for jailhouse informant testimony, is California Senate Bill 609, sponsored by Senator Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), which requires corroboration for jailhouse informants.

The bill has passed the State Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committee, and will soon be heading to the Assembly Floor for a final vote. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office has endorsed the bill and they are already applying informant corroboration as a rule. But if the bill passes the Assembly, Governor Schwarzenegger will have an opportunity to implement this important reform statewide.

In addition to corroborating jailhouse informant testimony, improving eyewitness identification and videotaping custodial interrogations have been shown to prevent wrongful convictions.  Senate Bill 756, sponsored by Senator Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles, Culver City), addresses the development of new guidelines for eyewitness identification procedures, and Senate Bill 511, sponsored by Senator Elaine K. Alquist (D-Santa Clara), would require full electronic recording of interrogations in both juvenile and adult cases.

Wrongful convictions such as Mr. Hall’s plague our criminal justice system and can no longer be ignored. We hope that the legislature will support these three critical bills and that the Governor will ultimately sign them into law. California law enforcement, prosecutors, and the community will all benefit from more reliable outcomes in criminal cases.

John F. Terzano is the President of The Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization that works to address unfairness and inaccuracy in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the capital punishment system.

Click here to help The Justice Project.

Uncategorized

California Needs Interrogation Reform to Prevent False Confessions

By John F. Terzano of The Justice Project

David Allen Jones spent 12 agonizing years in a California prison for a crime he did not commit.  Then DNA exonerated him.

Mr. Jones was convicted of three murders he falsely confessed to after being interrogated by a team of detectives and taken to each of the crime scenes. During the intense interrogation, Jones was prodded by detectives and corrected when he gave statements that contradicted the evidence.

Jones was a mentally retarded, part-time janitor with an IQ in the low 60’s.  There was no physical evidence or witnesses linking Jones to any of the killings and he was convicted almost entirely as a result of his false confession.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jones story is not unique. False confessions have played a role in wrongful convictions in California, and in approximately 20% of wrongful convictions nationwide.  (Please visit The Justice Project’s website for information on reforms that will help prevent false confessions): http://www.thejustic….  Also the ACLU of Northern California has an effort underway to help end wrongful convictions.)

Confessions are often viewed as the most powerful evidence at trial, and can even overcome other types of evidence that points to the defendant’s innocence.  For this reason, it is essential that reforms be put in place to ensure that confessions are reliable.

Decades of psychological research have demonstrated how some traditional and aggressive interrogation techniques can lead to false confessions. These include the use of false information, lengthy interrogation sessions.  When paired with certain personality characteristics, these techniques can cause a person to falsely confess.

Reforms are needed to help judges and juries accurately assess the circumstances surrounding a confession. To this end, California must mandate the full electronic recording of custodial interrogations – from the Miranda warning until the end of the interview. These reforms will also help protect police officers from false claims of coercion or abuse by providing an objective record of the facts. 

It is especially important to record interrogations involving juvenile suspects and those whom authorities have reason to believe are mentally retarded or mentally ill.  As demonstrated in Mr. Jones’ case, these populations are particularly vulnerable to interrogation tactics and significantly more likely to falsely confess.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice has taken a major step in the prevention of wrongful convictions by sponsoring Senate Bill 511, authored by Senator Elaine K. Alquist (D-Santa Clara).  This bill addresses the problem of false confessions by requiring full electronic recording of interrogations in both juvenile and adult cases.

The bill has already passed the State Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committee, and it will soon be heading to the Assembly Floor for a final vote.  Last year, in a major setback in the prevention of wrongful convictions in the state, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed an earlier version of this bill.  If the new interrogation reform bill passes the Assembly, the Governor will have an opportunity to sign into law this important reform that protects suspects and protects police officers.

Along with electronic recording of interrogations, improving eyewitness identification and raising standards for the use of jailhouse informant testimony has been shown to prevent wrongful convictions. Senate Bill 756, sponsored by Senator Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles, Culver City), addresses the development of new guidelines for eyewitness identification procedures and Senate Bill 609, sponsored by Senator Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), would require corroboration for jailhouse informants.

Cases of injustice in California, such as David Allen Jones, illustrate the need for improvements within the criminal justice system. But the mistakes leading to wrongful convictions can be prevented-we hope that Legislators will support these three essential bills, and that the Governor will ultimately sign them into law.

John F. Terzano is the President of The Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization that works to address unfairness and inaccuracy in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the capital punishment system.

Click here to help The Justice Project.

California

California Needs Eyewitness Identification Reform

This is a post by John F. Terzano of The Justice Project

Herman Atkins suffered for 12 years in a California prison – for crimes he did not commit. Then DNA exonerated him.  Mr. Atkins was a victim of faulty eyewitness identification.

Mr. Atkins’ wrongful conviction for rape and robbery began when the victim and a witness identified him as the perpetrator after seeing his picture on a wanted poster for an unrelated crime. Then, the photo array used later by police also contained the wanted poster photo, which had already been viewed by the witnesses.

Watch three minutes of Herman’s story on YouTube:

What happened to Mr. Atkins is not as uncommon as it should be.  Eyewitness identification is notably unreliable.  According to a detailed 2004 analysis of California wrongful convictions by San Francisco Magazine, faulty eyewitness identification was a factor in 60% of the 200 cases of people proven to have been wrongly convicted in the state since 1989.

Indeed, study after study has shown that faulty eyewitness identification is one of the most common causes of wrongful convictions.  Faulty eyewitness identification played a pivotal role in 75% of the cases nationwide where DNA later exonerated the person convicted.

We now know through decades of empirical research that practical changes to identification procedures such as

  • cautionary instructions to witnesses,
  • effective use of fillers,
  • full documentation of the lineup procedures and a witness’s statement of certainty,
  • and double-blind administration

can significantly improve the accuracy of eyewitness identifications.  (Please visit The Justice Project’s web site: http://www.thejusticeproject.org/solution/eyewitness-id.html for more details of eyewitness identification reforms.)

In California, however, only the Santa Clara Sheriff and Police departments have voluntarily adopted these best practices.

The good news is that Senate Bill 756, sponsored by Senator Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles, Culver City), addresses the development of new guidelines for statewide eyewitness identification procedures.

The bill has already passed the State Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committee, and it will soon be heading to the Assembly Floor for a final vote.  An earlier version of an eyewitness reform bill was taken up in the legislature last year, but it was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. If this new eyewitness reform bill passes the Assembly, the Governor will soon have an opportunity to sign into law this important reform.

It is also important to note that in addition to improving eyewitness identification, videotaping custodial interrogations and corroborating jailhouse informant testimony have been shown to help prevent wrongful convictions. Senate Bill 511, sponsored by Senator Elaine K. Alquist (D-Santa Clara), would require full electronic recording of interrogations in both juvenile and adult cases and Senate Bill 609, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), would require corroboration for jailhouse informants.

Given the documented cases of miscarriages of justice in California – and the research indicating that many of the errors leading to wrongful convictions can be prevented – we hope that Legislators will support these three essential bills, and that the Governor will ultimately sign them into law. Lawmakers have a duty, not only to the public safety, but also to the wrongly convicted like Herman Atkins, to take the necessary steps to ensure that the state’s criminal justice system is as fair and accurate as possible.

  John F. Terzano is the President of The Justice Project, a nonpartisan organization that works to address unfairness and inaccuracy in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the capital punishment system.

Click here to help The Justice Project.