<!-- TITLE: Tech Crim Justice --> <!-- SUBTITLE: A quick summary of Tech Crim Justice --> # Motivation The criminal justice system is messy, archaic, biased. It's rife with corruption and is resistant to systematic innovation and reform. + The interpersonal interactions between actors in the criminal justice system (protecting friends and colleagues) + Money has an incredible influence in the outcomes of cases + The prosecutor-defense dichotomy seems arbitrary. Shouldn't all parties be striving for *truth*? + Juries' irrational decision-making, which is intentionally not accountable + How can a successful appeal be thrown to the *same judge* who made the initial mistake?! # Resources + [Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020](https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html) + The Sentencing Project drafted a [Report to the UN](https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/) about racial disparities in the US Justice System. + [Article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/20/why-the-u-s-court-system-is-criminally-unjust/) abt [Benforado's](https://drexel.edu/law/faculty/fulltime_fac/Adam%20Benforado/) research, which applies cognitive psychology to law. + [Call for virtual trials, given COVID-19](https://www.law360.com/articles/1258553/it-is-time-to-make-virtual-trials-a-reality), [and another](https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/could-zoom-jury-trials-become-a-reality-during-the-pandemic) + [Road to the virtual courtroom](https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1231&context=facpubs) + [Dirty defense lawyer](https://www.johntfloyd.com/the-most-corrupt-prosecutor-defense-lawyer-ever/) + [Basic info on appeals](https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-cases/appeals). Apparently when remanding, [reassignment is rare](https://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4546&context=umlr), and [an argument](https://www.manatt.com/Manatt/media/Media/PDF/Illusory-Fortress-Peremptory-Challenges.pdf) 20 years ago that argues this is dumb. + [The simple prescription for reducing wrongful convictions: better journalism about crime and punishment.](https://psmag.com/news/innocent-until-reported-guilty-4231) + [Manual](https://rm.coe.int/training-manual-reporting-on-corruption-investigative-journalism-en/16807823b4) on investigative journalism, in exposing corruption [targeted to Serbia, but seems general]. # Relevant organizations + [Equal Justice Initiative](https://eji.org/) + [The Innocence Network](https://innocencenetwork.org/) # Unfair (Benforado) # Notable cases + Serial podcast + Just Mercy + [Pete Schelem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shellem) instrumental in releasing 5 wrongly convicted individuals. # Notes + What is this project? + What are the questions, and who do we ask? + Law professor / grad students from Cornell + We could ask Yusef if he knows a retired judge etc. + How does the Supreme court make its decisions? + What pieces do you want to make an informed decision outside of their jurisdiction? + Is there anything families wouldn't be able to get from their local institutions?