The use of DNA evidence by Jacksonville police and the Jacksonville State Attorney’s office, among other agencies, involves collecting biological material, analyzing the material, developing a profile and then attempting to compare it to profiles in state and/or federal databases where the DNA profiles of various people are stored. In…
A recent poll indicated that a majority of Americans support eliminating minimum mandatory sentences for nonviolent crimes. A minimum mandatory sentence is a sentence that is prescribed by the state legislature or Congress that indicates the minimum, or lowest, sentence a person can get after being convicted of certain crimes.…
According to recent reports and articles, high schools across the United States are increasingly drug testing their students. Court cases that have addressed the legality of drug testing in high schools have resulted in opinions that allow high schools to drug test students as a prerequisite to joining school sports…
Jacksonville police and police officers all over Florida commonly use drug dogs or K-9’s that are trained to detect the odor of marijuana, crack, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs to search for those drugs in vehicles and other areas. However, there is some question as to how reliable these…
A recent study by the National Academy of Sciences is looking at the reliability of certain forensic evidence techniques many assume are reliable such as the use of fingerprint, tire track and bite mark analyses. These techniques are commonly used by the state to prosecute and convict people accused of…
The Department of Justice is considering new rules which would give the FBI more tools to investigate crimes and gather intelligence about suspected criminals and other persons of interest. The rules governing the FBI were expanded after 9/11, and these new rules would provide the FBI with additional investigative tools.…
In the federal criminal system, when a person is arrested for a crime, or a corporation is being investigated for criminal conduct, credit for cooperating with the government can be obtained which can translate into a lower sentence. Federal law enforcement officials may ask a corporation’s representatives to cooperate by…
A recent trend in criminal prosecutions throughout the country illustrates that police and prosecutors are using GPS device information against criminal suspects and defendants to obtain arrest warrants and convictions. For example, earlier this year, prosecutors in Chicago used a criminal defendant’s GPS device to show that he was in…
In Jacksonville, Florida when a person is arrested for a crime and taken to jail, he/she will have an opportunity to make a phone call from the Duval County Jail. However, every inmate in the Duval County Jail (as well as other jails and prisons) and everyone having a conversation…
In a criminal case, when the police or prosecutors indicate that they have a DNA profile match between evidence at the crime scene and the suspect or defendant, they suggest that this evidence conclusively establishes a connection between the suspect or defendant and the crime scene. In a criminal trial,…