Sunday, May 18, 2014

"The System": Al Jazeera America's eight week series begins this evening (Sunday May 18, 2014 at 9.00 PM) with an episode on false confessions; Consummate criminal justice blogger Joe Gamso explains why it is well worth watching. "Gamso - For for the Defence."


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE: Kudo's to Al Jazeera for putting its resources into  such an important documentary which is also relevant to criminal justice jurisdictions far beyond the borders of the USA. At the same time, my thoughts go to Mohammed Fahmy,  Peter Greste and Baher Mohammed, the three brave Al   Jazeera journalists who have been arrested and imprisoned in Egypt and are currently on trial  on bogus terrorism related charges, for nothing more than attempting to carry out their vital work.  They cannot be freed soon enough.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

POST: "Where mistakes are almost never made," by Joe Gamso, published on his blog, "Gamso - For the Defence: Commentary by an Ohio Criminal Defence Lawyer on May 16, 2014.

GIST: "The System isn't a single documentary, it's a series of 8 to be shown once a week each on a different topic, each focusing on, it seems, two specific cases.  Berlinger talks to the folks who were convicted, to their devastated families, to their lawyers, to reporters who covered the cases, to investigators. He talks to law enforcement and (if they'll let him) prosecutors.  And he talks to the families of victims who typically remain convinced, regardless of evidence to the contrary, that the cops nailed the right person.   It is as restrained and calm and quiet as can be.  Narrated by and with the regular presence on camera of Berlinger himself.  Scraggly beard.  Soft spoken.  Restrained.  And all the more damning for that.........If there's a story to The System it's that the system ain't all it's cracked up to be.  Those of us who deal with it every day know that.  So do it's victims.  Other people need to know it, too. Fred Whitehurst, on camera near then end of the Flawed Forensics episode makes the point. We need systems that we trust.  But we don't need to trust them blindly. There's a pretty good case to be made that we can't fairly trust them at all.  Joe Berlinger's making a pretty good start at getting the word out."

The entire post can be found at:

http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.ca/2014/05/where-mistakes-are-almost-never-made.html 

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: 

Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
 
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;