Freedom remains tenuous for freed prisoner

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

“Lisa Kavanaugh, one of Rosario’s lawyers, the head of the Innocence Program for the state’s public defender agency, said that Rosario should be exonerated by prosecutors. His conviction was thrown out in large part because advances in …

Men accused of killing toddlers say Shaken Baby Syndrome should be on trial, not them

photo credit: washington post
“Attorneys for the two men said medical experts have relied on three injuries to reach the conclusion that both victims were violently shaken: bleeding behind the eyes, bleeding on the surface of the brain, and brain …

Inside Case Behind Wrongful Conviction Doc ‘Southwest of Salem’

“Homophobia and hysteria didn’t deprive these women of their freedom – prosecutors did. The state’s reluctance to take responsibility in a case where its failings have been unusually well-documented and publicized suggests locking up the occasional innocent person isn’t that …

How “Risk Assessment” Tools Are Condemning People to Indefinite Imprisonment

“Yet, the fact remains: Most of the people in civil commitment facilities, like Lieberman, sexually assaulted children or women. If released, some of these folks might harm again. Others will not. But regardless of that uncertainty, once they have completed …

Making the Case Against Banishing Sex Offenders

photo credit: the texas observer

[Justice] Kennedy’s “frightening and high” line was based on a 1988 Department of Justice guide for treating sex offenders, which cited an unfounded conjecture in the magazine Psychology Today. Further studies have shown the ineffectiveness …

Opposition to Differential Response Dealt Heavy Blow

“Research shows that keeping some families together after children are abused can result in safety for the children and united families, when proper assessment and interventions are made. Even so, the usual suspect ‘child-protection professionals’ scapegoat the approach.”–Debbie Nathan

Read …

A Syndrome on Trial

“Today, scores of other caregivers are accused of in injuring or killing a baby by shaking every year. But some doctors and lawyers believe the syndrome is being diagnosed too frequently and that debate is playing out in courtrooms around …

The Father Gordon J. MacRae Story: Injustice in New Hampshire

“In 2005, I came upon the story of Father Gordon MacRae in a series of articles by Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, Dorothy Rabinowitz in The Wall Street Journal. This was my first inkling that the case against this Catholic priest, that …

Expanding Incarceration Is Not the Best Way to Fight Rape Culture

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/AFP/Getty Image

“The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other developed country. The American incarceration rate is roughly 3.5 times as high as the median rate in Europe, according to a 2013 report …

Wrongfully Convicted of Rape, a New Jersey Man Finds More Punishment After Prison

Mark Makela for The New York Times

Nearly 30 years ago, at 22, Mr. Harrell was arrested on suspicion of raping a teenage girl and later served four years in a New Jersey prison. But when he was released on …