'Justice for All' Act Now in Effect
Peter Rose served ten years in prison for a rape DNA tests have proven he did not commit. He left jail this week amid tears from his children, relatives, friends and the law students at Golden Gate in San Francisco who worked to free him.
Congress' watered-down, lop-sided DNA testing bill went into effect Saturday. Make no mistake, it's a crime victim's bill, not an Innocence bill. However, even the paltry amount designated for DNA testing of inmate's innocence claims is better than no funding at all. Imagine if John Kerry were President instead of Bush the past three years. We would be celebrating a real legislative advance, along the lines of the original Innocence Protection Act introduced in 2001, of which he was a co-sponsor.
Here's a section by section analysis of the bill. Here's a description of the bill. Here's a timeline, from 2000 to 2004.
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