8/16/10
NCAJ Reacts to SBI Investigation
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Statement of Philip Baddour, NCAJ President:
In the modern criminal justice system, judges and juries increasingly rely on forensic science and crime lab analysis to make decisions about people's freedoms and very lives. In North Carolina, the crime lab is not an independent scientific agency. It is part of a law enforcement agency, and analysts have historically been law enforcement officers. Recent investigative reporting by the Raleigh News & Observer has shown what members of our organization have known for years about the deep flaw in that structure. Instead of being a tool of unbiased scientific analysis, with the chief goal being discovery of the truth, the SBI crime lab is often a tool of accusation and prosecution, with the chief goal being conviction. In addition to citing specific examples of what happens when a forensic lab operates in that culture, the N&O series has also called attention to how that culture develops: through training and structure. We are pleased that the Attorney General has recently begun to focus on problems with the SBI lab and has sought our organization's input in that process. As we continue that effort, NCAJ will continue to pursue the ultimate goal of anyone genuinely interested in the pursuit of truth and justice through the use of forensic science in North Carolina's criminal justice system: an independent and fully funded crime lab, led and staffed by qualified scientists, who are not beholden to law enforcement, but are only beholden to the scientific method.
An Independent Review of the SBI Forensic Laboratory
Posted by liz at August 16, 2010 9:50 AM CDT
8/9/10
SBI Policy Under Investigation
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Yesterday the News & Observer ran the first of a 4-part investigative series on the workings of North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigations (SBI). The SBI, a division of the Department of Justice under the direction of Attorney General Roy Cooper, assists local law enforcement with criminal investigations and has been the target of an ongoing outside investigation. The investigation, being conducted by 2 former assistant directors with the FBI, was ordered following the February 17 exoneration of Greg Taylor, a Wake County man who the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission found had spent 17 years in prison for a killing he did not commit. SBI policy, which resulted in their not disclosing information that would have been crucially important to Greg Taylor's defense, contributed greatly to his wrongful conviction. Greg Taylor's release shed light on the agency's inferior and sometimes misleading work: Agents testified that lab reports didn't always include all test results. Does the agency teach its agents and lab analysts to line up with prosecutors' theories, in some cases ignoring key pieces of evidence? Greg Taylor is only one of the many innocent people whose life has been devastated by the shoddy work of the SBI. We encourage you to read more about this issue at www.newsobserver.com/crime and learn how it impacts defendants, victims and the system of justice in North Carolina.
Posted by liz at August 9, 2010 7:21 AM CDT
7/27/10
Racial Justice Act in North Carolina
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A new study examining death sentences in North Carolina over a 28-year period ending in 2007 shows that among homicides, the odds of a death sentence for those who are suspected of killing whites are approximately three times higher than the odds of a death sentence for those suspected of killing blacks. The study, to be published in The North Carolina Law Review next year, was conducted by Michael Radelet, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Glenn Pierce, a research scientist in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston. It is the most comprehensive study of the modern administration of the death penalty in North Carolina to date.
Radelet and Pierce examined 15,281 homicides in North Carolina between 1980 and 2007, of which 368 resulted in death sentences for those convicted. One of the top states to use the death penalty over the past 30 years, North Carolina has one of the nation's largest death rows with 155 men and four women facing execution. And with its passage of the Racial Justice Act last year, North Carolina became the second state in the nation after Kentucky to allow murder suspects and those already on death row to present statistical evidence of racial bias. The law is aimed at ensuring that the race of the defendant or victim doesn't play a key role in the sentence a person receives in death penalty cases. For more information, click here.
Posted by liz at July 27, 2010 8:36 AM CDT
6/28/10
NC Public Defense System Questioned by U.S. Attorney General
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In North Carolina, criminals are defended by public defenders in some counties; in others, by private attorneys paid by the county. This inconsistency is among the issues addressed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) convention this past week in Wilmington. According to the U.S. Attorney General, the problems facing North Carolina's public defender program are not unique. Other states are facing similar challenges due to budget cuts and heavy caseloads. Click here for more information.
Posted by liz at June 28, 2010 10:40 AM CDT
