For each interpretive appellate decision that attempts to even the playing field, there are five more that steepen the grade. Our concern has turned from seeking truth to seeking convictions, and our post-conviction efforts are focused on denying any further review. Members of the House Government Reform Committee, however, offered an Apology to Wrongly Jailed Men . Texans for Public Justice has conducted a study of cases from 1994 through 1998 in which only one side sought a hearing from the state's high court, and found Campaign Donors Get Easier Access to Texas Supreme Court . The National Law Journal has released its annual survey of Judges Behaving Badly .
Conservatives defend the death penalty, and liberals reject it.
The broader issue is the high rate of wrongful conviction. Moreover, wrongful conviction is not confined to capital offenses. Sarah Boxer examines the views of philosophers, legal theorists and authors regarding what happens When Emotion Worms Its Way into Law . FBI Crime Lab chemist Fred Whitehurst tried without success to get his superiors to do something about fellow lab analyst Michael Malone. In tacit acknowledgement that some of Whitehurst's criticisms were well-founded, the FBI ordered reforms in the lab.