Race Data Matters: Using Expert Testimony and Social Science Data about Discriminatory Policing to Win Pretrial Motions: Part I presented by Rahsaan D. Hall, Director, Racial Justice Program, American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts

Race Matters I: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice
September 14-15, 2017 | Detroit, MI

Race Data Matters: Using Expert Testimony and Social Science Data about Discriminatory Policing to Win Pretrial Motions: Part II presented by Alison Siegler, Clinical Law Professor, University of Chicago Law School

Race Matters I: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice
September 14-15, 2017 | Detroit, MI

With an increasing number of police departments across the country turning to unregulated, untested, and flawed facial recognition technology to identify suspects, it is vital defenders understand the technology, its limitations, and how to challenge its use in their cases.

In recent years, the government has increasingly turned to hacking as an investigative technique. Specifically, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) has begun deploying malware: software designed to infiltrate and control, disable, or surveil a computer’s use and activity.

With protections in place, body cameras have the potential to better document encounters between police officers and citizens while mitigating competing concerns about their potential for misuse or abuse.

Nearly every case involves a cell phone or an online account. Laws on device and account searches are continuing to evolve, as courts reconsider old doctrines that do not fit with the realities of the digital age. Below, find sample motions on suppressing emails, passcodes, and other electronically stored information.

In cases where the government has accessed data about a defendant that was subject to a phone company or internet service provider privacy policy, that data was something that belonged to the defendant. When the data was seized and then searched, it affected a real legal interest held by the defendant. Defense counsel should put the privacy policies and terms of service statements of such providers into the trial record. It creates a foundation for arguing that defendants have property rights in their digital papers and effects.

Getting Facebook into Evidence.

Digital Forensics Guide Cell Phone Location and Tracking Forensics. 

A Champion article on internet investigations and the types of digital information used in criminal cases. 

Amicus Curiae Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Defendant-Appellant and Arguing Reversal.

NACDL adopts a report and recommendations on law enforcement searches of digital evidence.