David discusses three recent criminal justice stories on WESA's The Confluence.
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Trial is underway for the Chicago police officer who shot and killed Laquan McDonald in 2014. The killing and ensuing coverup effectively ended the careers of several high-level city officials including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has announced he won't seek re-election.
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Technically, slavery is illegal in the United States. But there's a big loophole in the 13th amendment: it's perfectly okay to compel someone's labor against their will, for little or no pay, as long as they've been convicted of a crime. Now, inmates across the country are on strike, demanding an end to what they call "modern-day slavery." The history of prison labor in America shows that's not much of an exaggeration.
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A new report from the Pennsylvania attorney general details how the Catholic church systematically covered up decades of sexual abuse by priests. In almost all of the cases, the abuse happened so long ago that the statute of limitations prevents prosecution of the abusers and their enablers. Or does it?
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The killing of Antwon Rose, an unarmed African American teenager shot by police in East Pittsburgh, PA, is a recent and tragic example of what can go wrong when local law enforcement agencies are too small.
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David joins the panel on WESA's The Confluence July 20 to discuss SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh's judicial record on criminal justice, individual rights, and civil liberties.
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How might we expect Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to rule on criminal justice issues? His record on criminal cases is sparse, but there are some telling details...
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With the news of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement, we review some of the important decisions in which he played a key role, and consider how his departure may affect the Court's approach to criminal justice cases.
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In what's turned out to be a week of bombshell Supreme Court news, a lesser-noticed (but still notable) ruling in Carpenter v U.S.: a 5-4 majority concurs that police need a warrant to track someone's location using data from cellular towers.
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared war on legal marijuana in January. How's that working out?
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Police need a warrant to search your home and surrounding property... but not your vehicle. What if your vehicle is parked on your property? A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling settles the matter.
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A recent conversation on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence about cash-strapped municipalities consolidating their law enforcement agencies.
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Donald Trump demands an internal investigation into whether the FBI planted an informant in his presidential campaign. That duty that falls to the Inspector General of the Justice Department. What does this lesser-known office actually do?
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Analysis of two U.S. Supreme Court decisions handed down this week upholding defendants' rights.
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the War on Drugs has been "a roaring success," and that ending stop-and-frisk practices caused crime to spike. The evidence says otherwise.
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Michael Cohen takes the Fifth in the Stormy Daniels suit -- something his client Donald Trump has asserted only mobsters do. What's going on here?
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Analysis of Thursday's guilty verdict in the second sexual abuse trial of comedian Bill Cosby.
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