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NACDL is committed to enhancing the capacity of the criminal defense bar to safeguard fundamental constitutional rights.
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The expected prosecutions as a result of the Dobbs decision are bearing down on a system already overwhelmed post-COVID. Because of the promise of arrests for those traveling interstate seeking services, defense attorneys may feel an impact even if they do not practice in an abortion-restrictive jurisdiction.
No matter what side of the abortion debate you find yourself, as defenders we must appreciate the fact that reversal of Roe would profoundly impact our capacity to defend clients from arbitrary or excessive government power in three significant ways.
Robert Williams is the first known person wrongfully arrested based on facial recognition technology. During the time he was accused of shoplifting, Mr. Williams was actually driving home from work and posting a video that eventually exonerated him.
Proof of live birth is often necessary to prove that a woman killed her newborn child. The floating lung test requires that medical examiners take pieces of an infant’s lung and place them in water. The theory is that if the lungs float, demonstrating oxygen was in the lungs, the child was born alive. If the lungs sink, the conclusion is that the infant died in utero, thereby clearing a formerly pregnant women from liability for the death. Is the floating lung test a valid test?
Although women are comprising an ever-larger part of the prison population, they are being housed in a correctional system that was primarily designed for men.
Pregnant Women, Junk Science, and Zealous Defense
A case in the Eastern District of Virginia, United States v. Chatrie, involves a geofence warrant, which is a warrant seeking Google cellphone location data so that the police can identify individuals who were in a particular location during a defined window of time.
If an image of a perpetrator exists on a cellphone camera, video surveillance, body camera footage or social media, law enforcement can use facial recognition software to attempt to identify the person in the photo. Defense attorney Kaitlin Jackson discusses the limitations of facial recognition, and she explains how to determine if police used facial recognition in a defendant’s case. Facial recognition software is difficult to challenge, but ways exist to attack its reliability.