Bulletin: National Registry of Exonerations: (Part Six); (Pittsburg Post-Gazette); It's encouraging to see that the Registry's 2015 report has prompted such a powerful editorial. It ran under the heading: "Justice derailed: Wrongful convictions put too many in prison."..." Americans need to ask hard questions about the fairness of their criminal justice system and actively root out the practices and biases that lead to false convictions. If justice isn’t capable of standing up to scrutiny, then it isn’t justice at all."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Bravo to the Post-Gazette for its powerful editorial. Although it is  focused on the American criminal justice system,  it is relevant to  Canada and many other countries as well. If only other newspapers would pay attention (or could be encouraged to pay attention)  to the "sobering and infuriating' National Registry of Exonerations  report" and highlight the need to bring justice up to scrutiny in their respective jurisdictions.

Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

EDITORIAL: "Justice derailed: Wrongful convictions put too many in prison," published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on February 5, 2016.

GIST:  "A frustrating thing about America’s criminal justice system is that some police and prosecutors seem more interested in arrests and convictions than justice. Institutional indifference to actual guilt can lead to outcomes that are, well, unjust. This is why the report by the National Registry of Exonerations, at the University of Michigan Law School, is sobering and infuriating..........Even though law students, various Innocence Projects and conviction integrity units in district attorney’s offices around the country deserve credit for unearthing these legal miscarriages, no one knows how many cases fall through the cracks.  Americans need to ask hard questions about the fairness of their criminal justice system and actively root out the practices and biases that lead to false convictions. If justice isn’t capable of standing up to scrutiny, then it isn’t justice at all."

 

The entire editorial can be found at:

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2016/02/05/Justice-derailed-Wrongful-convictions-put-too-many-in-prison/stories/201602290006

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

Harold Levy: Publisher;