The New York march will be held in New York City on June 27th starting on the Steps of City Hall from 10:00 to 11:00, to follow with a march to Foley Square Park where there will be speakers and informational materials from 11:00 to 2:00.
Proper Oversight of Judges and Attorneys Reduces False Convictions
NEW YORK— An estimated 10% of all prisoners in the U.S. have been wrongfully convicted. According to a recent report released by the Pew Center on the States, the U.S. correctional population -- those in jail, prison, on probation or on parole -- totaled 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 adults. This means that up to 730,000 people in the correctional population may have been wrongfully convicted. In the last 3 decades 238 Americans have been exonerated with DNA evidence after spending an average of 12 years incarcerated. The severity of this problem has begun to be recognized in New York and other states. The New York Bar Association earlier this year released their Final Report of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Wrongful Convictions. Also in April, Jonathan Lippman, the chief judge of New York’s Court of Appeals, said he is creating a permanent task force to examine wrongful convictions and recommend ways to minimize them. In order to raise public awareness of a national problem that has become a national shame, a National Freedom March for the Wrongfully Convicted is being held simultaneously in many states on June 27th. The New York march will be held in New York City on June 27th starting on the Steps of City Hall from 10:00 to 11:00, to follow with a march to Foley Square Park where there will be speakers and informational materials from 11:00 to 2:00. Speakers at the March will include Jeffrey Deskovic, Richard Aborn, Colleen Eren and representatives from the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the ACLU.
Jeffrey Deskovic served 16 years in prison for a murder he did not commit and is now working to bring about reforms which will help reduce the number of wrongful convictions. Mr. Deskovic’s speech will provide insights into the devastation a wrongful conviction can cause to the innocent and their families as well as the need for systematic reform to help reduce these injustices. Another aspect will be the role that judges play in perpetuating wrongful convictions by putting procedure over innocence, rubber stamp denying appeals, and generally looking for any and every means possible to affirm convictions no matter what the facts are or the quality of the legal arguments which are based upon the fairness of trials.
Richard Aborn is a candidate for Manhattan district attorney. He was a member of the NYS Bar Association Task Force on Wrongful Convictions and a leader in helping pass a new state law calling for expanded use of DNA to fight crime and quickly exonerate the innocent. He has also long pressed for overturning the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, and has been a firm and consistent opponent of the death penalty. Colleen Eren is Organizing Director with New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NYADP) and a doctoral candidate in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. She became involved in the abolitionist movement at the age of 16, after starting a chapter of Amnesty international in her high school. She has served on Amnesty's National Steering Committee for the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, and has been with NYADP five years. She has taught undergraduate Sociology courses at Hofstra University, Queens College and Hunter College. Please join us at this worthwhile event. More information on the National Freedom March for the Wrongfully Convicted at www.freedommarchusa.org
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11 comments:
No accountabiliy and rare re-inforcement of the oath that attys and judges take to practice and provide justice to the citizens..has created members of the legal profession that believe those oaths are gifts that permit them to perform daily for the benefit of themselves and their connections.
I have mentioned before on this blog that I have seen over many years..judges and lawyers sell out or overlook actions of defts and clients because of politics, behavior and attitude of the person alleged or their ethnicity or sex. I am not kidding when I state.... that white women have the best shot at easy justice!
Unlawful or wrongful convictions in MANY cases are related to human emotions and upbringing...and how will anyone regulate that? I have yet to figure out how from my years of experience and was curious if it got reported who would REALLY care!
DNA will be presented, but as in the OJ Simpson case which I watch extensively...some will choose to ignore it's tremendous accuracy. You are lucky if regular citizens ever really understand the concept of conviction...called Reasonable Doubt.
I am interested in viewing the results of any implementations of correction.
Independent oversight if that could happen is what's needed. Most of the Judges & Attorneys are cogs in the system just doing their jobs the same way the Nazis did their jobs and they don't care.
To 9:36 AM
White women have a better shot? Are you kidding? Not in Suffolk County Long Island...
We should all face it... Justice is in short supply in New York State..
the system is broken, rights are routinely violated... which class depends upon the locale and the scam...
More accurately...white women in criminal actions have the best shot at easy justice...not necessarily family court actions...if that is your issue.
You have not seen all the cases I may have and are judging the courts by your experiences...this is what happened many times over in the court I worked within.
I believe what you say is your experience....
I took issue with your suggestion that white women get an easy ride....the suffering should not be understated..
In Suffolk they are deliberately impoverished, end up in shelters and welfare.... children used as pawns and taken... etc.. etc...
To a mother's heart..the pain can be intolerable... (and it is meant to be)....
Isn't the phrase:
And justice for all?
Isn't the phrase:
And justice for all?
That was the point...
The system is broken and causes great pain to too many people..
white women have the best shot,
who are you kidding, not if others are jealous of you, not if you are not as mentally & sexually deraigned as them, then you are a target to have your rights violated
and our wonderful attorneys and judges continue the madness by the mentally ill!
that is our legal system, full of evil!
I totally agree with the above writer..It doesn't matter what race, creed or color you are..these criminal's (animals) go after anyone and anything!!!!As long as it has to do with covering up crimes. It's all about power and money!!!!
I would know because I'm a caucasian woman who was sexually abused by her "Powerful" attorney. In addition, was further victimized by the very same system who's supposed to protect a crime victim.
The point missed by all of you is again...white women charged in criminal cases in the NY courts, are treated the best of all ethnic and also their same sexual but opposite ethnic groups.
That does not mean that white women are treated elegantly by the courts, or that lawyers don't abuse them in their offices or that the mean and nasty court female employees don't attack them viciously...I know that they do that constantly... or that Family Court handles them rightfully...but that in my experience..which was vast...I saw that white women in criminal cases were treated to the lightest sentences and the most lenient pleas.
The court does play favorites whether you want to acknowlwdge it or not, and it includes those who are political, wealthy and often white females...assessing the facts as I viewed them daily.
I don't like it either or did I ever want to believe it..even though I am a white female...but I am vehement about reporting the facts to all who read this blog...as I saw them occur in the court that I worked for years, with many, many judges and having connections to lots of inside information within ALL the courts in my area , as well as our local city hall! My information is both personal and professional relating to many present sitting judges and practicing lawyers.
My only goal is to report what people need to hear and not necessarily what they want to hear. I do this truthfully so NY state citizens can see what is happening and how it affects them ..white, black, political, non-political and of all creeds.....especially because the media is blocking this information from your access and they know I am accurate.
What I write is what I witnessed and heard and then confirmed.... and I want all of you to know what plays out in NY courthouses and courtrooms from this front row advantage.
The NY judicial system is keeping the public in the dark by influencing the media to never report anything the public will never find out, except through arrests or blatant publicized stupidity.
My desire is not to anger individuals or communities, but to promote discussions that hopefully reveal more and different information for the distinct purpose of encouraging federal investigations and eventually judicial recovery!
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