by Jayson Hawkins
Devantee Jones-Bernier did not have any drugs on him when police executed a search warrant on the apartment where he was visiting some friends in Worcester, Massachusetts. Marijuana was found in the unit, and so Jones-Bernier was initially charged along with everyone else there. Police also took ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Orwell’s warning that “Big Brother is watching” has hung over western society for decades, sometimes confirmed by revelations of unauthorized government wiretaps, sometimes rendered ridiculous by the paranoid rantings of conspiracy theorists. In the post-9/11, cyberspace driven, the Patriot Act world of Edward Snowden and Wikileaks, however, ...
by Jayson Hawkins
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution offers a guarantee of the assistance of an attorney when accused of a crime. This guarantee has become a trope in countless movies and TV shows where suspects are advised: “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided ...
by Jayson Hawkins
The 9/11 attacks were a rare historic moment, a watershed event that recast the American experience at home and abroad.
While most discussions of this phenomenon have focused on impacts felt equally across the nation—wars; Islamophobia; new hassles at airports; the nagging fear that contrary to all ...
by Jayson Hawkins
It’s no secret that anyone who commits a serious crime in the U.S. is likely to have their genetic profile catalogued in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (“CODIS”). This network has connected state DNA databases for over 20 years and houses upwards of 14 million “offender” ...
by Jayson Hawkins
The American police state and accompanying surveillance apparatus has a long history dating back to the first Red Scares and beyond. The exponential growth of police presence engendered by the “wars” on crime and drugs did not result in any serious consequences for the politicians who fostered ...
by Jayson Hawkins
In the first years of the 21st century, exonerations of men and women who had served decades for crimes they did not commit made national news, both because of the terrible tragedies they represent and because they were so rare. In recent years, exonerations have become less ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Capital punishment has been a part of the American experience from the earliest times. Virginia executed a colonist in the seventeenth century, and since then, nearly every method of execution, from hanging to lethal injection, has found purchase upon some corner of the U.S.
Times, however, are ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Every wrong looks for a right. It seems to be a deep-seated part of human nature to point fingers whenever things go awry, regardless if by accident or intention. When physical evidence is lacking, our minds home in on subtle hints in body language and the emotional ...
by Jayson Hawkins
Ever since smartphones became indispensable to everyone, including criminals, police have been working to snoop into the wave of electronic communication these devices facilitate. From searching phones to hacking emails, agents of governments everywhere have done their best to leave no stone unturned. Despite these efforts, criminals ...
