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Illinois Innocence Project
The Illinois Innocence Project, a member of the national Innocence Project network, is a non-profit legal organization that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people and reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The national Innocence Project was founded by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld in 1992. Founding The Illinois Innocence Project, formally known as the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project, was founded in 2001 by Larry Golden, Nancy Ford, and Bill Clutter. The Project is housed in the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Current staff The current staff of the Illinois Innocence Project are: * John J. Hanlon, Executive and Legal Director * Larry Golden, Founding Director * Gwen Jordan, Staff Attorney * Lauren Kaeseberg, Staff Attorney Exonerees The Illinois Innocence Project's work has led to the exonerations of many wrongfully convicted prisoners in Illinois. Keith Harris (2003) Keith Harris, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-profit Organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty, and openness to ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballistics
Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance. A ballistic body is a free-moving body with momentum which can be subject to forces such as the forces exerted by pressurized gases from a gun barrel or a propelling nozzle, normal force by rifling, and gravity and air drag during flight. A ballistic missile is a missile that is guided only during the relatively brief initial phase of powered flight and the trajectory is subsequently governed by the laws of classical mechanics; in contrast to (for example) a cruise missile which is aerodynamically guided in powered flight like a fixed-wing aircraft. History and prehistory The earliest known ballistic projectiles were stones and spears, and the throwing stic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences for multiple crimes may be a concurrent sentence, where sentences of imprisonment are all served together at the same time, or a consecutive sentence, in which the period of imprisonment is the sum of all sentences served one after the other. Additional sentences include intermediate, which allows an inmate to be free for about 8 hours a day for work purposes; determinate, which is fixed on a number of days, months, or years; and indeterminate or bifurcated, which mandates the minimum period be served in an institutional setting such as a prison followed by street time period of parole, supervised release or probation until the total sentence is completed. If a sentence is reduced to a less harsh punishment, then the sentence is said to have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convicted
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of " not proven", which is considered an acquittal. Sometimes, despite a defendant being found guilty, the court may order that the defendant not be convicted. This is known as a discharge and is used in countries such as England, Wales, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The criminal justice system is not perfect and there are instances in which guilty defendants are acquitted and innocent people are convicted. Appeal mechanisms and post conviction relief procedures may help to address this issue to some extent. An error leading to the conviction of an innocent person is known as a miscarriage of justice. After a defendant is convicted, the court determines the appropriate sentence as a punishment. In addition to the sentence, a conviction can also have other con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Defender
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and representation to the needy free of charge is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, requires the US government to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases. Public defenders in the United States are lawyers employed by or under contract with county, state or federal governments. By country In civil law countries, following the model from the French Napoleonic Code of criminal procedure, the courts typically appoint private attorneys at the expense of the state. Australia T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
Bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is the field of forensic science that consists of the study and analysis of bloodstains at a known or suspected crime scene with the purpose of drawing conclusions about the nature, timing and other details of the crime. It is used mostly to study homicide or other violent crimes in which blood is present and can help in crime scene reconstruction. Since the late 1950s, BPA experts have claimed to be able to use biology, physics (fluid dynamics), and mathematical calculations to reconstruct with accuracy events at a crime scene, and these claims have been accepted by the criminal justice system in the US. The validity of bloodstain pattern analysis has been questioned since the 1990s, and more recent studies cast significant doubt on its accuracy. A comprehensive 2009 National Academy of Sciences report concluded that "the uncertainties associated with bloodstain pattern analysis are enormous" and that purported bloodstain pattern experts' opinions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Prosecutor
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority. Other jurisdictions have similar systems. For example, the investigation of an allegation against a sitting president or attorney general might be handled by a special prosecutor rather than by an ordinary prosecutor who would otherwise be in the position of investigating their own superior. Special prosecutors also have handled investigations into those connected to the government but not in a position of direct authority over the Justice Department's prosecutors, such as cabinet secretaries or election campaigns. While the most prominent special prosecutors have been those appointed since the 1870s to investigate presidents and those connected to them, the term can also be used to refer to an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capital Murder
Capital murder was a statutory offence of aggravated murder in Great Britain, and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, which was later adopted as a legal provision to define certain forms of aggravated murder in the United States. In some parts of the US, this term still defines the category of murder for which the perpetrator is eligible for the death penalty. Some jurisdictions that provide for death as a possible punishment for murder, such as California, do not have a specific statute creating or defining a crime known as capital murder; instead, death is one of the possible sentences for certain kinds of murder. In these cases, "capital murder" is not a phrase used in the legal system but may still be used by others such as the media. Great Britain In Great Britain, this offence was created by section 5 of the Homicide Act 1957. Previously all murders carried the death penalty on conviction, but the 1957 Act limited the death penalty to the following cases: * Murd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motive (law)
A motive is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. In criminal law, motive in itself is not an element of any given crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at least when those motives may be obscure or hard to identify with. However, a motive is not required to reach a verdict.Law Library - American Law and Legal Information - JRank Articles. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2014. Motives are also used in other aspects of a specific case, for instance, when police are initially investigating. The law technically distinguishes between motive and intent. "Intent" in criminal law is synonymous with '' Mens rea'', which means ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrenceville, Illinois
Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, Illinois, United States, located along the Embarras River. The population was 4,348 at the 2010 census. Lawrenceville is located in southeast Illinois, northwest of Vincennes, Indiana. The city is home of the Lawrenceville "Indians", Illinois Class A high school state basketball champions in 1972, 1974, 1982 and 1983. The team had a combined two season win–loss record of 68-0 from 1982–83. The team was coached by Ron Felling, who, after the 1983 season at Lawrenceville, went on to coach at Indiana University as an assistant under Bobby Knight. Geography Lawrenceville is located at (38.725686, -87.684538). According to the 2010 census, Lawrenceville has a total area of , all land. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 4,745 people, 2,024 households, and 1,190 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,262 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intruder
Intruder may refer to: Film and television * ''The Intruder'' (1914 film), directed by Wallace Reid * ''The Intruder'' (1933 film), an American film by Albert Ray * ''The Intruder'' (1939 film), ''La intrusa'', an Argentine film by Julio Saraceni * ''The Intruder'' (1944 film), a 1944 Mexican film starring Carlos Orellana * ''The Intruder'' (1953 film), a British post-war drama by Guy Hamilton * ''The Intruder'' (1956 film), an Italian melodrama by Raffaello Matarazzo * ''The Intruder'' (1962 film), an American racial segregation drama by Roger Corman * ''The Intruder'' (1975 film), an American horror film * ''The Intruder'' (1986 film), ''Pembalasan Rambu'', an Indonesian action film by Jopi Burnama * ''Intruder'' (1989 film), an American horror film by Scott Spiegel * ''Intruder'' (1993 film), ''Intruso'', a Spanish psychological thriller by Vicente Aranda * ''The Intruder'' (1994 film), an Australian psychological drama by Richard Wolstencroft * ''Intruder'' (199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Expunged
In the common law legal system, an expungement proceeding is a type of lawsuit in which a first time offender of a prior criminal conviction seeks that the records of that earlier process be sealed or destroyed, making the records nonexistent or unavailable to the general public. If successful, the records are said to be "expunged". ''Black's Law Dictionary'' defines "expungement of record" as the "Process by which record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed from the state or Federal repository." While expungement deals with an underlying criminal record, it is a civil action in which the subject is the petitioner or plaintiff asking a court to declare that the records be expunged. A very real distinction exists between an expungement and a pardon. When an expungement is granted, the person whose record is expunged may, for most purposes, treat the event as if it never occurred. A pardon (also called "executive clemency") does not "erase" the event; rather, it constitutes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
