One of the most well-known and frequently quoted legal maxims is this: it is “better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” That was written by Sir William Blackstone in 1765, but it is far from the first or only expression of the idea....
criminal justice reform
Bail measure passes legislature, will become ballot question
Recently, the legislature passed a measure to change how bail is determined in Wisconsin. It has passed twice in consecutive legislative sessions, which means that it will now head to our April ballot as a constitutional amendment. How bail is determined is critically...
Supreme Court to decide if you can be punished after an acquittal
This may come as a shock. Being acquitted of a crime doesn’t mean you can’t be punished for committing it. People can and do get punished for crimes they got acquitted of committing. It happens when a person is charged with more than one crime. If they are acquitted...
When does the use of jailhouse snitches violate people’s rights?
Once a person has a criminal defense lawyer, the government should only communicate through that lawyer. It should never go behind the lawyer’s back and attempt to continue to interrogate the client. Doing so is a violation of the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel in...
10 principles for reducing mass incarceration
In the United States, we incarcerate more of our population than any other country in the world. In fact, while the U.S. makes up less than 5% of the world’s population, it is responsible for locking up almost 25% of all the prisoners in the world. Even if the system...
License suspension keeps people from paying off court debt
If your driver’s license were suspended, what would you do? What could you afford to do? You’re not allowed to drive on a suspended license, but you have to get to work. Could you afford to take a Lyft or Uber every day? Is there public transportation? Could you...
How can we prevent race discrimination in jury selection?
Among the many pressing problems in our criminal justice system is the reality that prosecutors sometimes try to prevent people of color from serving on juries. The reasoning must be that people of color are more likely to be anti-police or pro-defense than white...
Bail reform is actually working, but the story isn’t getting through, especially in election season
By now you have almost certainly seen many election ads scaring people about any candidate who advocates bail reform. They are accused of wanting to put killers and rapists on the streets to commit more crime. Paired with sometimes misleading crime statistics, these...
‘Fog Reveal’ tool allows police to know your full location history
Do you want the police to keep a record of everywhere you’ve ever been? It would be awfully convenient for the police to have that information. Law enforcement could simply make a list of places where illegal things are likely to happen or where certain people are not...
Should the police be allowed to access newborns’ DNA?
Our DNA contains a tremendous amount of sensitive, personal information. Not only about us, but about our family members. It can tell us who we’re related to, whether we have genetic disorders and even how likely we are to get certain cancers. According to one study,...