A decade ago, a gang member Tony Rosalez was convicted of an Elgin drive-by murder after two other gang members gave statements to police that Rosalez had pulled the trigger. Both have now recanted and said Rosalez is innocent, leaving Rob Warden to question what Rosalez is still doing behind bars.
Commentary
Karen Daniel: A tragic end to an extraordinary life and career
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Karen Daniel’s death was a tragedy. But as Judy Royal writes, her legacy is indelible in the minds of all who knew her and loved her — and in the annals of criminal justice reform.
Commentary
5 big ideas to stop sentencing innocent people to death
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How can courts stop sentencing innocent people to death? Our Unrequited Innocence project highlighted some potential solutions.
Commentary
Unknown tale: Father George Clements’s role in Cook County court reform
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Father George Clements, who died last week, did many great things in his life. But Rob Warden reveals one about which nobody knew.
Commentary
Hampton tells of life as trangender in Illinois prison system
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Strawberry Hampton is suing the Illinois department of corrections over abusive treatment she says she endured as a transgender woman inside the state prison system. Last month, she sat down with Injustice Watch audience engagement manager Charles Preston to describe her experiences.
Commentary
A travesty of justice that Kim Foxx can and should fix
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A young woman long ago admitted to making a false accusation. But almost a decade later, the conviction remains intact.
Commentary
People’s Law Office: 50 years of fighting the good fight
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A Chicago law firm for the past 50 years has worked to protect civil liberties and oppose government oppression. That firm is the People’s Law Office, and in honor of its milestone Rob Warden reflects on its history.
Commentary
Time for a little Lilliputian justice in Oklahoma
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Rob Warden reviews the case against two Oklahoma defendants wrongly convicted in a case that prosecutors withheld significant evidence,, and offers a suggestion on the appropriate remedy.
Commentary
Kary B. Mullis: A lament for the loss of a life that saved many
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Kary Banks Mullis, who died last week, may not be a name well known in the world of criminal justice. But as Rob Warden notes, his work certainly was.
Commentary
The novel behind the Dotson case
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Rob Warden tells how a 16-year old could so vividly, but falsely, describe being raped — a story that put Gary Dotson, though innocent, behind bars for a decade.
Commentary
The world’s first DNA exoneration, the rape that wasn’t, and a lesson unlearned
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Nationwide, approximately one in three of persons who have been exonerated by DNA had been convicted in whole or part on the testimony of witnesses who later recanted. Rob Warden writes on the 30th anniversary of Gary Dotson’s exoneration: It is long since time to stop distrusting the recantations?