The disclosures

1. 20132013Police, Courts & Prisons

   188 Chicago drug convictions thrown out after a sergeant's extortion ring is exposed

   Ronald Watts planted drugs on people who would not pay.

   Source: Ronald Watts group exonerations (Illinois)Read the full story →
2. 20142014Police, Courts & Prisons

   Federal fire study: a lit cigarette did not ignite gasoline in over 4,500 tries

   The method the Chicago confession described.

   Source: The Propensity of Lit Cigarettes to Ignite Gasoline VaporsRead the full story →
3. April 7, 2014Police, Courts & Prisons

   Texas parole board denies a posthumous pardon for Willingham

   No court or governor has ever cleared him.

   Source: Parole Board Denies Pardon For WillinghamRead the full story →
4. 2014Police, Courts & Prisons

   Study: at least 4.1 percent of people sentenced to death are innocent

   And most of the innocent on death row are never cleared.

   Source: Rate of false conviction of criminal defendants who are sentenced to deathRead the full story →
5. 2015May 6, 2015Police, Courts & Prisons

   Chicago creates a $5.5 million reparations fund for Burge's torture victims

   With an apology and a lesson taught in the public schools.

   Source: Chicago Creates Reparation Fund For Victims Of Police TortureRead the full story →
6. 2016January 15, 2016Police, Courts & Prisons

   New Orleans puts poor defendants on a waiting list for a public defender

   At least three other Louisiana parishes had waitlists too.

   Source: ACLU Sues Over Public Defender Shortage and Resulting Wait List in New OrleansRead the full story →
7. August 4, 2016Police, Courts & Prisons

   Missouri's public defender assigns the governor to a case to protest the caseloads

   The state ranked 49th in the country on indigent defense.

   Source: Missouri Governor, Who Vetoed Relief for Public Defenders, Appointed as Public DefenderRead the full story →
8. 2017March 1, 2017Police, Courts & Prisons

   Seven Baltimore officers charged with racketeering; nearly 800 cases later dropped

   The prosecutor called it a criminal conspiracy, not aggressive policing.

   Source: Seven Baltimore City Police Officers Arrested for Abusing PowerRead the full story →
9. 2018July 10, 2018Police, Courts & Prisons

   Defense bar: sentences after trial can run three to eight times longer than after a plea

   Trial now happens in fewer than 3 percent of criminal cases.

   Source: The Trial Penalty: The Sixth Amendment Right to Trial on the Verge of ExtinctionRead the full story →

Stories (1)

• 1963 to 2023Overloaded Public Defenders: How Indigent Defendants Get Less Than 14 Hours of Legal Work on a FelonyIn 1963 the Supreme Court ruled that a person too poor to hire a lawyer cannot be given a fair trial unless the state provides one. The right is real and the funding is not. A national standard set in 1973 said one defense lawyer should carry no more than 150 felonies a year; a 2007 federal survey found about three-quarters of county public defender offices took more than the recommended limit, and most had no power to say no. A 2023 study by the RAND Corporation and the American Bar Association found offices carrying 300 to 350 felonies per lawyer, which leaves under 14 hours for the average felony case. Missouri's system, ranked 49th in the country on spending, once tried to appoint the governor himself as a public defender to make the point. New Orleans put poor defendants on a waiting list for a lawyer. A defense that thin is one more reason the plea offer gets signed.Police, Courts & Prisons