Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The General Assembly has unanimously approved legislation prohibiting police officers from knowingly providing false information to individuals under age 18 relating to an alleged crime or the potential punishments for it Senate Enrolled Act 415 additionally requires a law enforcement officer who takes a child into custody at a school, or during a school-sponsored event, to attempt to immediately notify the student's parent, guardian or emergency contact. State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, the sponsor of the plan, said the Legislature's decision to send it to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law "is a major step forward for juvenile justice in the state of Indiana.” "With the passage of SB 415, we will protect juveniles from providing law enforcement with false confessions because they were given intentionally false information. This legislation also aims to build more trust in the criminal justice system among our young people," Pol said."
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GIST: "Indiana law enforcement officers no longer will be permitted to lie to children during an interrogation in an effort to secure a confession or for any other purpose.
The General Assembly has unanimously approved legislation prohibiting police officers from knowingly providing false information to individuals under age 18 relating to an alleged crime or the potential punishments for it.
Senate Enrolled Act 415 additionally requires a law enforcement officer who takes a child into custody at a school, or during a school-sponsored event, to attempt to immediately notify the student's parent, guardian or emergency contact.
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, the sponsor of the plan, said the Legislature's decision to send it to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law "is a major step forward for juvenile justice in the state of Indiana.”
"With the passage of SB 415, we will protect juveniles from providing law enforcement with false confessions because they were given intentionally false information. This legislation also aims to build more trust in the criminal justice system among our young people," Pol said.
The legislation includes a good-faith exception for police officers unaware they were communicating false information to a child at the time they misspoke.
At the same time, police in Indiana generally still would be permitted to mislead adult criminal suspects about the evidence officers have acquired or nonexistent statements by alleged accomplices in an effort to secure a confession.
The measure was cosponsored by state Reps. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage; and Pat Boy, D-Michigan City."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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