Organize the South

The title is a bit provocative, isn't it? Unless, of course, law enforcement does stand in the way. That answer depends on what happens this year with eyewitness ID reform legislation. Frankly, I believe criminal justice law has been taken out of the hands of the public, even out of the hands of legislators, and is now determined by district attorney's and, to a lesser degree, law enforcement. If the DA's want it, they get it. If they don't want it, it doesn't happen. What do the DA's want? Easier convictions.

The only true thing I've seen on Law & Order is a quote by a judge saying the court is not a search for truth, but for admissable evidence. Easier convictions happen when evidence is easier to admit. A coerced confession for example. Or bad eyewitness testimony. How bad is eyewitness testimony? The Innocence Project has worked on the exoneration of more than 200 people nationwide and 75% were convicted based on bad eyewitness testimony. Six people have left Georgia prisons when eyewitness testimony has proved to be bad. Think about how hard it is to prove a witness was wrong, especially years after the fact. Without something like DNA evidence, getting a conviction reversed is like climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen. Or climbing equipment. Yet 6 Georgians have reached that summit. How many are at the base waiting for their turn?

There's a decent solution. Record all confessions on video/audio and institute guidelines for eyewitnesses. If a cop violates the guidelines, at least the impact on the case can be argued. Of course, law enforcement hates the idea. Police accountability doesn't usually go over well with the police. Rep. Stephanie Stucky Benfield is sponsoring legislation on eyewitness ID reform. It hasn't gone anywhere for the last two years, but momentum seems to be building. There are a series of committee meetings, the last one was this last Monday. Spokes people from both the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police (GACP) and the Georgia Sheriffs Association (GSA) were there to say reform is a bad idea. The GACP said this was a problem with university studies not accurately reflecting what happens. Also, that while there may have been a problem in the past things are better now.

The GSA rep, Sheriff Mike Jolley, laid out a doozy. Jolley said a state law would impede law enforcement's efforts to have better procedures. One law would mean an agency couldn't update their polices when new information came out. This would be almost believable if 83% of law enforcement agencies in Georgia had no policy at all. According to Jolly though, freedom is equal to lack of accountability. Or standards. Or even knowing what they hell you're doing.

The next meeting of the committee is November 13. At that meeting they will determine whether or not to put forward a bill and what it will look out. Check it out if you're free.

Good Links on Eyewitness Reform:

The Innocence Blog: By The Innocence Project, good info on stuff happening across the country.

Georgia Innocence Project: A state version of the national project. Great work there.

Eyewitness Identification Reform Blog: A whole blog devoted to pushing this reform. Focusing a lot on Georgia right now.

Savannah Morning News Article: This has details on the GACP and GSA testimony at Monday's committee meeting.

Online Athens Story on Committee Meeting: A different take on Monday's meeting.