Articles

The United States Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have issued a report that calls into question more than 90% of trial convictions before 2000 where flawed FBI microscopic hair analysis was used to support the conviction.   The  NACDL, FBI, and the Philadelphia Inquirer have reported […]

“The idea of total incarceration just isn’t working” – Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy “A Terrible Idea” – Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, when asked about mandatory minimums. On March 23, United States Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer marched across the street from the Supreme Court Building to Capitol Hill, ostensibly to […]

After Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf recently gave his support to the bi-partisan Medical Marijuana bill (SB 3), sponsored by Senator Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) and Senator Mike Folmer (R., Dauphin), it is looking more likely that Pennsylvania will become the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana.  Meanwhile, United States Senators Corey Booker (D., New Jersey), […]

Over the last year, the Pennsylvania legislature has enacted more than twenty laws addressing a multitude of issues directly relating to the protection of children that practitioners and laypersons should be aware of.  Included in these changes are a longer list of mandatory reporters, a more rigorous definition of child abuse, new licensing requirements, and […]

This morning, newly-elected Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf temporarily suspended the imposition of the death penalty in the Commonwealth.  This moratorium on executions applies to 186 currently pending death penalty verdicts, as well as any future convictions.  His decision was prompted by the scheduled execution of Terrance Williams, 48, who has been on death row since being […]