The creation of the Criminal Justice “Study Hall” forum was inspired by one of your fellow students: Betty Ray Mydland. The general concept behind this particular forum or “Study Hall” is to provide students in our various Criminal Justice programs with a dedicated “space” to openly discuss criminal justice program issues, lessons, topics, careers, questions, news, ideas, etc.
Thanks to Betty for this excellent recommendation. Well, the forum has been created. It’s up to our forum community to spread the word and get as many of your peers engaged as possible. I’m really looking forward to watching this Study Hall evolve.
If you haven’t registered for the Ashworth University Student Forum yet, take a minute to do so. It literally only takes a minute before you’re ready to join the discussion.
We encourage all of our Criminal Justice/Legal Studies students to begin participating in this new Study Hall today! Get involved with your student community!
I’m not a CJ major, but I thought all of you would find this interesting.
I am an advocate for someone that has been wrongfully incarcerated. Dateline actually made a special on his case.
Here’s a link to the MySpace page that I created for him. There are links as you scroll down that will lead you to the Dateline website to view the videos on his story.
I would encourage all of you to view the videos and decide for yourself!
Click here to check out this video. (the page is flash for those of you with slower computers…)
When it comes to fighting what are alleged to be court sanctioned injustices carried out through wrongful convictions, The Innocence Project is without question the most influential, well organized, and successful criminal defense organization in the world. The majority of cases they take on involve crimes where DNA testing has put into question and sometimes completely invalidated the evidence used to convict someone of a violent crime. In many cases, they defend those who are facing serious hard time, often life imprisonment, and who don’t have the financial resources to even get their voices heard by the court. I must also stress that this group is not without its’ detractors. As you can imagine, many of the victims’ families are convinced that these men are guilty as charged. Even in the face of new DNA evidence that was not available at the time of the trial, some family members still and perhaps will always remain unconvinced.
From my perspective, one has to review these cases on a case by case basis—and refrain from generalizing about what this organization’s true contributions are to criminal justice and/or injustice. In this video, you’ll hear the story of Ronald Clarke, a man who spent 24 years in prison on a robbery, kidnapping, and rape conviction. Mr. Clarke was later exonerated due to The Innocence Project’s tireless work to have his conviction overturned on the basis of DNA evidence. It’s a touching story. We look forward to hearing your comments on the blog. Take care…
Let’s face it, when it comes to blockbuster movies and hit television shows centered around the criminal justice/legal system, the image of the paralegal, if even portrayed at all, will always remain in the shadow of the lawyer, whose’ cultural archetypes range from the honest to the corrupt to the heroic, etc. Well, when it comes to dramatic appeal and TV-ready storylines, the paralegal profession may have found a star in the form of Susan Hu, a paralegal working for the Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR), a non-profit legal organization that has played a sometimes controversial role in the legal proceedings of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay.
Irrespective of your political views, the story that Susan Hu has to tell provides us with a rare glimpse into one of the most intensely debated legal issues this country has ever seen; the rights of prisoners (detainees) classified as enemy combatants. I hope all our paralegal students realize that this profession can take you anywhere in life, including environments you could never have imagined yourself working in, i.e. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Here is the video profile of Susan Hu. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
With the phenomenal popularity of “crime drama” television shows such as C.S.I., the forensic science field has exploded into the mainstream of American consciousness, yet has this highly sophisticated fusion of criminalistics and science been misrepresented and/or misunderstood by the general public? The following video was developed by a team of forensic experts in an attempt to answer that very question. It focuses on defining the various attributes that collectively identify what forensic science has been, currently is, and potentially will be in the future as it continues to find new cross-disciplinary applications.
Personally, I believe the “real world” of a forensic scientist is more rewarding than any television show could portray, which should motivate you to work even harder on your program studies and cut down on your TV time! Am I asking too much? Well, I probably watch too much C.S.I. myself, so I’ll try to take my own advice. All kidding aside, you’re going to be amazed by the knowledge and skills you’ll have gained by the end of your program studies. Keep up the great work!
I expected the worst when following the story of a pregnant Marine missing under suspicious circumstances, however, it still hit me badly and made me start to cry when her body was discovered. My heart breaks for this beautiful young woman and her unborn child. And the Sheriff was also very emotional about this.The body was charred, and the fetus was in the victim’s abdomen, Brown said, describing the scene in gruesome detail.The fetus was developed enough that the “little hand was about the size of my thumb. The little fingers were rolled up,” he said.“One of the things that will probably stick with me for a long time, and forever, is that little hand, the way those fingers were turned, that had been burned off the arm. That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it’s disgusting.”
Cpl Laurean left a note with his wife stating that Maria had committed suicide by slitting her throat, but that he just buried her body. However, officials are saying that evidence shows otherwise. They found blood on the ceiling of his house.
“The blood patterns were even up into the ceiling,” he said. “The blood splatters indicate a violent, violent attack.”Someone had tried to clean up the scene and even painted over some of the blood,” Brown said.
Cpl. Laurean left his home on Friday around 4am, then used Maria’s ATM card and has not been seen since. There is a nationwide manhunt on for him now, but the Sheriff is telling him that he should just turn himself in. Being that he is in the military, they will turn over every rock, every stone, everything to find him. They will not just drop it. (more…)
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