Child sexual abuse allegations are some of the most difficult cases our criminal justice system faces—especially for the defense attorneys who defend against them, the prosecutors who try them, and the judges who preside over them. Laurie Shanks, Clinical Professor…
Category: Sexual Assault
2017
Category: Criminal Justice Reform | Sexual Assault
Two Mississippi men, Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, were wrongfully convicted of murdering two three-year-old girls in separate crimes in the 1990s.
Levon Brooks Convicted of Murder, Life in Prison
Brooks’ ordeal began in September 1990 when three-year-old…
2017
Category: Indecency With A Child | Prosecutorial Misconduct | Sexual Assault
THE POLICE AND FABRICATION OF EVIDENCE
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the police from fabricating evidence; that the courts still have to remind law enforcement of this basic premise speaks volumes about how intrinsic corruption is…
2017
Category: Constitutional Law | Sexual Assault
Racial bias and jury decision-making is fraught with many unanswered questions. We know it exists but too what extent remains a vast unknown. Most studies focus on the issue of race in the jury selection process or the influence a…
2016
Category: Sex Crimes | Sexual Assault
The Bill Cosby and Donald Trump sexual assault allegations, and the numerous media reports chronicling the pervasiveness of sexual assaults on college campuses, have placed this issue at the forefront of public discourse.
It is as if Americans are…
2011
Category: Criminal Law | Sex Crimes | Sexual Assault
(Updated May 22, 2017)
What exactly is “extraneous offense evidence”?
Texas courts generally recognize that extraneous offense evidence is any act of prior misconduct not shown in the charging indictment or information. This misconduct does not have to…