Bill to limit the crimes for which juveniles could be charged as adults sparks debate

By William J. Ford

Criminal justice advocates welcomed a Senate bill that would sharply reduce the number of crimes for which a juvenile could be charged as an adult.

Senate Bill 422 by Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery) would raise the age at which a juvenile would be tried as an adult from 14 in the current law, to 16. It would also eliminate a number of crimes for which 16-year-olds are currently made eligible to be charge as adults.

Facial recognition in policing is getting state-by-state guardrails

By Paige Gross

The AI behind newer police identification tactics is controversial, and instances of false arrests and privacy concerns are drawing lawmakers’ attention.

In January 2020, Farmington Hills, Mich., resident Robert Williams spent 30 hours in police custody after an algorithm listed him as a potential match for a suspect in a robbery committed a year and a half earlier.

The city’s police department had sent images from the security footage at the Detroit watch store to Michigan State Police to run through its facial recognition technology. An expired driver’s license photo of Williams in the state police database was a possible match, the technology said.

Execution of SC inmate convicted 23 years ago marks first execution in the US for 2025

By Sklar Laird

Marion Bowman was the third death row inmate executed in SC since September

COLUMBIA — Marion Bowman died Friday night by lethal injection in the country’s first execution this year.

His recorded time of death was 6:27 p.m.

The roughly 30 protesters outside the prison gates sang “Amazing Grace,” Bowman’s favorite hymn, after receiving confirmation of his fate.