Eyewitness Testimony & Wrongful Convictions

Jost, Kenneth. Eyewitness Testimony: Could new safeguards prevent misidentifications?. CQ Researcher October 14, 2011. Eyewitness testimony is often essential to criminal prosecutions, but witnesses sometimes misidentify an innocent person. Misidentifications played a part in three-fourths of the 273 wrongful convictions confirmed over the past two decades by DNA exonerations. Eyewitness scientists have long known of the unreliability of witness identifications, as confirmed through experiments dating back to the early 20th century, but police have been slow in changing ID procedures. The Supreme Court established limited safeguards against unreliable identifications in the 1960s and '70s, but experts say the rulings have had little impact and may actually mislead jurors in determining the accuracy of an identification. Now, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ordered stricter standards on identification testimony in the state's courts, including special instructions on the risk of misidentification even by witnesses who are absolutely certain. And the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in November in a case that could allow the justices to revisit the issues. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

More Articles:

EBSCOhost

• Academic Search Premier: eyewitness* and (misidentif* or wrongful or mistak* or fals* or reliab* or memory) - 400+ articles
  
  
• Legal Collection: SUBJECT (Child*) AND (eyewitness* or witness*) AND (recollect* or psychol* or truth* or decept* or memor* or honest*) - over 50 articles, primarily from law reviews and criminology journals, dealing with the subject of children as witnesses
  
  
• Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection: (eyewitness* or witness*) and (police or evidence or criminal) - 590+ full text peer-reviewed articles, mostly from psychology journals

ProQuest - (witness* or eyewitness*) and (false or wrongful or memory or mistak*) - 600+ full text articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals

Albany Law Review, Volume 74 Issue 3 (2011). Special issue on innocence, includes several relevant articles such as:

• Clark, Steven E. "Blackstone and the Balance of Eyewitness Identification Evidence." 74 Alb. L. Rev. 1105 (2011)
  
  
• Norris, Robert J., et al. "'Than That One Innocent Suffer': Evaluating State Safeguards Against Wrongful Convictions." 74 Alb. L. Rev. 1301 (2011)
  

Books

Ebrary: eyewitness and (false OR error OR wrongful) - Ebooks, many from scholarly/University presses, arranged in relevance order (the most occurences of the keywords at the top)

Web

Known Sites: If I perform a general internet search I am obliged to further research the publisher and authors of each webpage I want to use in order to evaluate their credibility. The CQ Researcher issue listed above provides specific websites to search, such as that of the Innocence Project, which publishes a page:
"Understand the Causes: Eyewitness Misidentification."

Specific Domains: Since it is government agencies that seek eyewitness testimony I can also target a web search to just government sites - the .gov domain. Here is a Google Advanced Search limited to government websites with the word 'eyewitness' in the page title: allintitle: eyewitness site:.gov. This provides webpages such as

United States. Dept. of Justice. Natl. Institute of Justice.Eyewitness Identification. 30 Sep. 2011

U.S. Census

Billitteri, Thomas J. Census controversy: should undocumented immigrants be counted? CQ Researcher, May 14, 2010. Now under way, the 2010 census has sparked bitter partisanship. Some conservative Republicans, for example, have criticized the census as an unconstitutional intrusion on privacy; others warn that census participation is important for maintaining GOP power, since the count is used to apportion congressional seats and allocate federal money to cities and states. Liberal Democrats have been more supportive of census procedures, which for the first time will count same-sex couples. To raise response rates, the Census Bureau sent every household the same brief 10-question form and dropped use of the “long form” — a lengthy questionnaire seeking data on housing, transportation, education and income. The long form has been replaced by a separate, ongoing monthly survey that will provide timelier data, but from a smaller sample of households. Researchers generally hail the change but say it will cause some problems, at least initially.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

More Articles


CQ Researcher

Jost, Kenneth. Census 2000: What is the best way to get an accurate count? CQ Researcher May 1, 1998.

Gavin, Jennifer. Redistricting: Are minority groups fairly represented in Congress? CQ Researcher Feb. 16, 2001.

EBSCOhost - subject term searches:

census AND immigrant*

census AND United States

demographic surveys AND United States

apportionment AND United States

ProQuest

SUB(aliens) AND(census of population)

SUB(census of population)

SUB(apportionment) AND SUB(census of population)

Ebooks

Choldin, Harvey M.Looking for the Last Percent: the Controversy Over Census Undercounts. Rutgers University Press, 1994. [NetLibrary]

Web

United States. Bureau of the Census.Census Bureau Home Page.

Detainees in the War on Terror

Jost, Kenneth. "Prosecuting Terrorists: Should suspected terrorists be given military or civil trials?" CQ Researcher March 12, 2010.
President Obama is under fierce political attack for the administration's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called Christmas Day bomber, in civilian courts instead of military tribunals. Republican lawmakers argue the defendants in both cases should be treated as “enemy combatants” and tried in the military commissions established during the Bush administration. Administration officials and Democratic lawmakers say criminal prosecutions are more effective, having produced hundreds of convictions since 9/11 compared to only three in the military system. And they insist that Abdulmutallab is providing useful information under interrogation by FBI agents. But the administration is reconsidering Attorney General Eric Holder's original decision to hold Mohammed's trial in New York City and considering making greater use of military commissions with other terrorism cases.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

More Articles

FACTS.com - Treatment of Detainees in the 'War on Terror' Research Topic - links to numerous articles.

CQ Researcher

Jost, Kenneth. "Closing Guantánamo: Can Obama close the detention camp within one year?." CQ Researcher February 27, 2009.

Stern, Seth. "Torture Debate: Is the U.S. war on terror legitimizing torture?." CQ Global Researcher September 2007.

Katel, Peter and Kenneth Jost. "Treatment of Detainees." CQ Researcher August 25, 2006.

ProQuest

Subject (terrorism and trials)

(interrogation and memo*) AND (cia or c.i.a. or office of legal counsel or justice department)

Prisoner Treatment AND Guantanamo (350+ full text articles)

Uighur* AND Guantanamo - Chinese Turkic Muslim minority detainees cleared of being 'enemy combatants' (25+ full text articles)

EBSCOhost

SU (terror* and trial*) - 230+ full text articles

(detainee* or prison*) and (interrogat* or torture) and (CIA or Central Intelligence Agency)

SU terroris* and SU ( detention or prisoners ) (375+ full text articles)

( detainee* or guantánamo ) and supreme court (300+ full text articles)

Books

Ball, Howard. Bush, the detainees, and the Constitution : the battle over presidential power in the War on Terror. University Press of Kansas, 2007. Main Collection KF5060 .B35 2007

Brecher, Robert. Torture and the Ticking Bomb. Oxford : Blackwell Pub., 2007. Main Collection HV8593 .B74 2007

Cassel, Elaine. War on Civil Liberties : How Bush and Ashcroft Have Dismantled the Bill of Rights. In Ebrary. Chicago Review Press, 2007.

Yoo, John. War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006. Main Collection HV6432 .Y66 2006

Web

Torture Archive. Natl. Security Archive, George Washington University, 25 Aug. 2009. "...primary source documents...related to the detention and interrogation of individuals by the United States."

United States. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence. Declassified Narrative on DOJ Office of Legal Counsel's Opinions on the CIA Detention and Interrogation Program 22 Apr. 2009

United States. Senate. Committee on Armed Services. Inquiry Into the Treatment Of Detainees In U.S. Custody, November 20, 2008. 22 Apr. 2009

Shapiro, Ari. "CIA Officials Won't Face Charges For Waterboarding." Morning Edition. Natl. Public Radio. 17 Apr. 2009. Includes "four Bush-era legal memos describing 'enhanced interrogation techniques' CIA interrogators were allowed to use on some terrorism detainees" released by the U. S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

United States. White House. Statement of President Barack Obama on Release of OLC Memos. 16 Apr. 2009.

United States. White House. Background: President Obama signs Executive Orders on Detention and Interrogation Policy. 22 Jan. 2009.

• Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities.


• Review of Detention Policy Options.


• Ensuring Lawful Interrogations.


• Review of the Detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri.
  

Gay Marriage

Articles

EBSCOhost Subject Search: same-sex marriage OR (gay rights AND marriage) - 2900+ full text articles

ProQuest Subject Search: (same sex marriage) OR (gay* and marriage) - over 6900 full text articles

"States Debate Marriage Rights (Research Feature)." June 2009. Facts On File World News Digest - issue summary with links to key news events and other features.

Gay Marriage Showdowns: Will voters bar marriage for same-sex couples? CQ Researcher 26 Sep. 2008.

Books:

Catalog - search su:Same-sex marriage or su:gay couples or gay marriage

Ebrary
Sullivan, Andrew. Same-Sex Marriage : Pro and Con. Knopf: 2004.

Alderson, Kevin and Kathleen Lahey. Same-Sex Marriage : The Personal and the Political. Insomniac Press : 2004

Reference Article: "Defense of Marriage Acts." National Survey of State Laws. Ed. Richard Leiter. 6th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2008.

Web:

State By State: The Legal Battle Over Gay Marriage. NPR.org. 16 Apr. 2009.

Extreme Sports

Clemmitt, Marcia. "Extreme Sports." CQ Researcher 3 Apr. 2009.
Are they too dangerous? The wild world of so-called extreme sports ranges from motorcyclists executing double back flips to kayakers navigating deadly Class 5 rapids to mixed martial arts (MMA) — also known as “ultimate fighting” — where combatants use kicks, punches and stress holds. But many “extreme” athletes reject the label, arguing that the term marginalizes their sports as the sole province of adrenaline and violence junkies, when they actually require high degrees of skill. Now legislatures in New York and other states are considering bans on MMA. Proponents say the matches, legal at the pro level in 37 states, are safer than boxing and emphasize fighters' broad-based martial-arts training. But opponents argue that allowing such a wide variety of aggressive moves in a single fight is barbaric. However, skateboarders and other extreme athletes cite statistics showing that traditional sports such as boxing and football cause injuries and deaths at a higher rate than any of the extreme sports. From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

More Articles

ProQuest:
("extreme sports" OR "mixed martial arts" OR skateboard* OR "base jumping" OR "stunt cycling" OR "ultimate fighting") AND (safety or injur* or law* or accidents or bans or helmets) - over 10000 Full Text articles in magazines, newspapers, and journals

EBSCOhost:

Subject Search: Extreme Sports - 230+ Full Text articles

Subject Search: Skateboard* - 260+ Full Text Articles

Keyword Search: mixed martial arts or ultimate fight* or HAND-to-hand fighting or cage fighting - 195+ Full Text Articles

National African American History Month

Books

Library Catalog - search by su:African Americans and su:history

Ebrary - search by subject "African American*" to find over 175 ebook titles

Articles

Select Full Text Journals from EBSCOhost and ProQuest:

• African American Review
• Black Collegian
• Black History Bulletin
• Black Scholar
• Diverse Issues in Higher Education
• Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy
• Journal of African American History
• Western Journal of Black Studies

Facts.com - browse Issues & Controversies in American History for articles outlining aspects of African American history, accompanied by primary sources and other reference materials. Titles include:

• Bodenner, Chris. "Transatlantic Slave Trade." 29 May 2007.
• Kauffman, Jill. "Underground Railroad." 1 Dec. 2008.
• Bodenner, Chris. "Emancipation Proclamation." 28 Nov. 2006.
• Allard, Phil. "Civil War: Reconstruction." 21 Feb. 2006.
• Bodenner, Chris. "Harlem Renaissance." 19 July 2006.
• Bodenner, Chris. "Civil Rights Act of 1964." 12 June 2006.
• Ozga, Matthew. "Black Power Movement." 1 Mar. 2006.
• Kauffman, Jill. "Affirmative Action in Education: The Bakke Case." 22 July 2008.

Reference
Encyclopedia Britannica Online: Guide to Black History
Gale Virtual Reference:
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Colin A. Palmer, ed. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan, 2006.

Web
United States. White House. National African American History Month, 2009 - by the President of the United States - A Proclamation. February 2nd, 2009. "This year's theme, "The Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas," is a chance to examine the evolution of our country and how African Americans helped draw us ever closer to becoming a more perfect union."
United States. Library of Congress. African American Odyssey. Exhibitions from the American Memory National Digital Library. Association for the Study of African American Life and History Civil Rights Digital Library "About the NAACP." "On February 12, 2009, the NAACP will mark its 100th anniversary."

Guns

Jost, Kenneth. "Gun Rights Debate." CQ Researcher 31 Oct. 2008.
The Supreme Court gave gun rights advocates a major victory on June 26, recognizing for the first time an individual right under the Second Amendment to own and possess firearms. The 5-4 decision struck down a handgun ban adopted by the District of Columbia in 1976. Gun rights advocates the very same day began challenging similar bans in Chicago and elsewhere. In his majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said the decision did not invalidate laws establishing qualifications to buy weapons, limiting the carrying of weapons in "sensitive" places or barring possession by felons or the mentally ill. Dissenting justices argued the ruling misinterpreted the history of the Second Amendment and would lead the court into striking down many gun laws. Gun control groups hope the ruling sets the stage for more reasoned debate over gun regulations by removing the specter of confiscation of weapons. But gun owners plan to use the ruling to challenge licensing schemes and to urge state legislators to ease restrictions on carrying weapons in public.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.


FACTS.com - Gun Control

Articles

ProQuest

Search (gun* or firearm*) AND (control* or law* or violen* or crim*)

This is a very comprehensive search, returning over 20,000 full text newspaper, magazine, and journal articles. You can narrow your search by adding keywords to the third row, for example "national rifle association or NRA" (only 2000 articles).

If you click on the 'More Search Options' tab under your search you will see that you can also limit your search to a Document type - just editorials, or just feature articles, for instance.

At the top of any of your results pages you will see tabs that allow you to just look at articles from one type of publication:
Scholarly journals, such as the Michigan Law Review, Magazines like U.S. News & World Report, Trade Publications like The Shooting Industry, or newspapers including New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Or do a search for the 2008 Supreme Court Case: ("District of Columbia v. Heller") OR SU("supreme court" and firearm*)

EBSCOhost

Search (gun* or firearm* or shootings) and (law* or control or violen* or crim*)

Or Search District of Columbia v. Heller or ( supreme court and firearm* )

CQ Researcher:

Jost, Kenneth. "Gun Violence." CQ Researcher 17.20 (2007): 457-480.

Adams, Bob. "Gun Control Debate." CQ Researcher 14.40 (2004): 949-972.

Books
Spitzer, Robert J. The Right to Bear Arms. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2001.

Carter, Gregg Lee. Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2002.


Jacobs, James B. Can Gun Control Work?. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Ludwig, Jens and Cook, Philip J. Evaluating Gun Policy: Effects on Crime and Violence. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2003.

Squires, Peter. Gun Culture or Gun Control: Firearms, Violence and Society. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Reference articles from Gale Virtual Reference (includes the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement, Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, and West's Encyclopedia of American Law). One particularly interesting article is an outline of gun laws in various States found in the National Survey of State Laws [Ed. Richard Leiter. 6th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2008].

Other books from our collection.

Racial Diversity in Public Schools

Jost, Kenneth. "Racial Diversity in Public Schools." CQ Researcher 17.32 (2007): 745-768.

Has the Supreme Court dealt a blow to integration? Fifty years after the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools, a new ruling has raised doubts about how far local school boards can go to integrate classrooms. The court's 5-4 ruling in cases from Seattle and Louisville bars school districts from using race as a factor in individual pupil assignments. Like many other school districts, the two school systems used racial classifications to promote diversity in the face of segregated housing patterns. But parents argued the plans improperly denied their children their school of choice because of race. Dissenting justices said the ruling was a setback for racial equality. In a pivotal concurrence, however, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said schools still have some leeway to pursue racial diversity. Meanwhile, some experts argue that socioeconomic integration — bringing low-income and middle-class students together — is a more effective way to pursue educational equity.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Facts.com

"Update: School Desegregation." Issues & Controversies On File 22 Dec. 2006. Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 22 Sept. 2007 http://www.2facts.com/.

"Update: Affirmative Action." Issues & Controversies On File 4 Apr. 2003. Issues & Controversies @ FACTS.com. Facts On File News Services. 22 Sept. 2007 http://www.2facts.com/.

"The Desegregation of Little Rock Central High School: 50th Anniversary (Research Feature)." Facts On File World News Digest @ FACTS.com. Sept. 2007. Facts On File News Services. 22 Sept. 2007 .


ProQuest Articles

(race or raci*) AND (segregat* or desegregat* or integrat*) AND SU(public school*)

Limit results to: full text (512 results as of September 22, 2007)

EBSCOHost Articles
View Search Results

(limited to CBC Title Collection, Full-text, and Peer-Reviewed)

ERIC Articles
View Search Results

((Keywords:public and Keywords:school*) and (Keywords:segregat* or Keywords:desegregat* or Keywords:integrat*) and (Keywords:race or Keywords:raci*) and (Keywords:united and Keywords:states)) and Full-Text Available

Books

United States Commission on Civil Rights. Racial isolation in the public schools; a report. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off. 1967.

Orfield, Gary. Dismantling desegregation : the quiet reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. New York : New Press, 1996.
Call Number: LC212.62 .O72 1996 Location: Main Collection

Real ID

Katel, Peter. "Real ID." CQ Researcher 17.17 (2007): 385-408.

Will the new driver's license law make Americans safer? Americans and their political leaders have long resisted the idea of a national ID card. But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, finding out who was in the country illegally took on new urgency. Two years ago, Congress passed a law to toughen standards for issuing driver's licenses — the main form of national identification. But practical problems and philosophical objections are dogging the Real ID Act. Seven state legislatures have already voted against putting it into effect in its present form, and 25 others are considering opposition. Critics argue Real ID licenses will create red-tape nightmares for millions of citizens — without making them safer. Proponents say the new law is needed because in some states current license standards have weaknesses terrorists can exploit. Meanwhile, another debate is under way on whether to raise standards for issuing Social Security cards.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Book:

Cothran, Helen. National security: opposing viewpoints.San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004.
Call Number: UA234 .N2476 2004
Location: Main Collection

EBSCO Search:
View Results


ProQuest Search:
SU(IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS) AND SU(NATIONAL SECURITY)

Media Violence

Government publications:

Violent Television Programming And Its Impact On Children. 25 Apr. 2007. Federal Communications Commission.

Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. 2001.

Response to FCC Report - ProQuest articles

EBSCOhost Articles: (mass media or television) and violence

Sample articles:
Anderson, Craig A., et al. "The influence of media violence on youth." Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4.3 (2003): 81-110. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.

Search for Books in the CBC Library Catalog or ebrary

Hargrave, Andrea Millwood and Sonia Livingstone. Harm and Offence in Media Content : A Review of the Evidence. 2nd ed. Intellect, 2009. [ebrary]

Signorielli, Nancy. Violence in the media a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-CLIO, 2005.

Free web articles:
O’Hehir, Andrew. "The Myth of Media Violence." Salon.com, March 17, 2005.

Rhodes, Richard. "The Media Violence Myth." 2000. American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. 7 May 2007.