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The threat of terrorism has been elevated in Texas due to recent activities of groups like ISIS, a new document by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) reveals. The department released the 2017 Texas Public Safety Threat Overview. The document contains a comprehensive assessment of the current public safety threats to the state. The…
In Congress, a member of the House has introduced a bill to make swatting a federal offense. In an era dominated by social media, it takes a lot to stand out in crowded feed of viral videos and the latest cute cat photos. Unfortunately, some social media users have tried to gain notoriety by carrying…
The student claims the defendant never told him he was HIV-positive. Recently, a Missouri court of appeals overturned the conviction of a man accused of deliberately withholding information about his HIV-positive status from his sexual partners. The case has raised several questions, including issues of race, sexual orientation, and privacy. As reported by the Washington…
Many factors lead to wrongful arrests. Forensic evidence could be flawed, a witness may have identified the wrong suspect or sometimes pressure from interrogators leads to a false confession. In Alameda County, California, a new and alarming problem has arisen. Case management software that was installed last year is being blamed on scores of wrongful…
It’s no coincidence that many of the most lurid national headlines about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students are from Texas. In 2016, Texas saw a boom in prosecutions for these types of relationships, the Houston Chronicle reported. The trend has led to the drawing up of stricter rules and a call for new legislation…
Texas is the next state to look at a controversial “bathroom bill,” – a measure that ran into trouble when it was introduced in North Carolina. The state’s Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is proposing a bill that will prevent transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice, reported The Guardian. A similar bill was…
The case of Miguel Navarro, a Hispanic teenager, who was sentenced to 99-years in an adult prison before he could drive or reach high school, has highlighted Texas’ controversial juvenile justice system. Navarro was just 15 in 2007, when he stabbed a 20-year-old during a fight in Katy, Texas. A Houston Public Media report pointed…
Bite mark evidence as a forensic science technique used at crime scenes has been under fire for some time. Now a new paper has urged law enforcement agencies to discontinue its use. The paper in Journal of Law and the Biosciences outlines the legal basis for the rise of the bite-mark identification technique and its…
The U.S. Supreme Court is to look at whether Texas should put to death a convicted killer with an intellectual disability. Attorneys for 57-year-old Bobby James Moore argue the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in the state, disregarded existing medical standards in favor of outdated ones when it decided Moore wasn’t mentally…
Cyber security experts say everyone should be cautious about providing information to online sites. As the 2016 holiday shopping season gets underway, cybersecurity firms warn that hackers could cost retailers big and small millions of dollars. According to a Fortune report, hackers have the power to not only steal consumer data, but to take down…