Today Failed Evidence: Why Law Enforcement Resists Science is published by NYU Press. I’ll present a discussion of the book, followed by commentary from a panel of local officials, today at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 3900 Forbes Ave. (Forbes and Bouquet), Pittsburgh, at 5 pm. The event is free and open to the public. Events will follow over the coming two months in New York City (Sept. 20), Washington DC (Oct. 3), Baltimore (Oct. 4), Boston (Oct. 24 and 25), Minneapolis (Nov. 1), and Toledo (Nov. 7). Details for the events can be found on the events page.
WESA FM, Pittsburgh’s Public Radio station, did an interview with me about the book; you can find the audio file here.
This morning the Pittsburgh City Paper, our local alt weekly, ran a long feature story on the book. Here’s a sample:
Failed Evidence argues that reforms will “benefit not only innocent persons … but also those police and prosecutors.” Recording an interrogation, Harris says, can also prevent a defense attorney from making jurors believe a confession was coerced.
It’s not an easy case to make. Back in 2011, a state panel on wrongful convictions urged that interrogations be recorded, among other reforms. But dissenters argued that police needed “flexibility” to devise their own rules. Harris says…”My pitch has been that these reforms do good things for you.” But often police “just disregard it.”
…”We’ll never have a perfect system,” Harris allows. But if obvious problems go unsolved, trust in the law itself erodes, and everyone suffers.
“With the justice system,” Harris says, “we’re all in it together.”
You can read the City Paper article here.
You can purchase the book here.
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