Category: News
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the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest court in the state, disregarded existing medical standards in favor of outdated ones when it decided Moore wasn’t mentally…
The Texas Department of Public Safety has classified thousands of arrests on the Mexican border as “high-threat criminals” as it justifies additional measures to strengthen border security. However, an article in the Associated Press has taken issue with the classification, pointing out drunk drivers, low-level drug offenders and people who have not paid child support…
Clowns are no longer a laughing matter after creepy clown threats have been made across the country including in Texas. Although many have been hoaxes, there have been 12 arrests nationwide linked to clown activities, reported the New York Times. But has clown paranoia got out of control? The clown episodes have divided opinions with…
Four cities in Texas have ranked among the most dangerous in the country in terms of crimes committed against women. The data was released this month by the insurance and management site valuepenguin.com. It stated one in six women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape at some time in her life. The…
A former accountant from Dallas who murdered his two daughters in 2001, has been moved from death row as a fight goes on to prove his mental incompetency. The Dallas Morning News reported on how John Battaglia had been due to be executed in March but won a stay of execution in the 5th U.S….
Texas has an unenviable record for wrongful convictions. When a defendant is wrongfully jailed he or she is not the only one to lose out. A report this month reveals the state has paid 101 men and women who were wrongfully jailed $93.6 million over the last 25 years. That’s money that could have been…
Society takes a dim view of drug offenders but sentences of life in prison seem unduly Draconian when their offenses didn’t involve violence. This certainly appears to be the view of President Barack Obama whose office has commuted the sentences of two drug offenders from Texas. The offenders whose sentences have been commuted are Douglas…