Reports that legal history had been made by a judge allowing the use of Twitter in open court for an extradition hearing in London sparked a few earth-shattering predictions. Was this the end of court reporting as we know it? Could this be ‘possibly the final nail in the coffin of shorthand’? Will court hearings soon be televised? …
Author archives: murdermap
Third Time Lucky? The case of Anthony Carter
It could almost be a scientific experiment. Take one murder case, subject it to three trials, each with different juries, and await the results. Would you expect the verdicts to be the same?
The Sentencing Con Trick
If a man receives an eight year sentence for robbery, how much time does he actually serve behind bars? It’s not eight years, for a start. It might not even be four years, although most criminals are told they will serve half their sentences before being released on licence. Some are released even earlier on …
Violence in Films and Computer Games: Guest Blog
Does the portrayal of violence in the media affect human behaviour? Should we be concerned about violence in computer games, books and film? These questions are being asked more often as games in particular grow ever more realistic. The US Supreme Court recently debated whether video games are worse than films and books because they …
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Beyond Reasonable Doubt
The cult film noir Detour has an unusual take on murder. The ‘hero’ is neither a hardened criminal or an innocent man fighting for justice. Instead the main character, hitchhiker Al Roberts, asks us to believe that he has accidentally become a double killer. Watching it was a bit like listening in court to a …