The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
11-12-2003
OTHER EDITORIALS
Date: 11-12-2003, Wednesday
Section: OPINION
Edtion: All Editions.=.Two Star B. Two Star P. One Star B
Column: OTHER EDITORIALS
'Soft time'
Cellphones are ubiquitous - where you live, walk, and work; on trains, planes, and buses; in stores, parks, and restaurants; in courtrooms, cloakrooms, and restrooms.
Ye gods, that's lot of urgent business being conducted. Or is it? Eavesdrop and you'll hear many variations on one especially lame theme: "I'm at the corner/leaving the office/stepping out of the car, and I'll be there in 10 minutes."
Sure, somewhere at this moment a mogul is closing a mega-deal via cellphone and a 60-something is learning he's a grandpa for the very first time, courtesy of Verizon or Cingular.
But many of these calls merely enable people to stretch time. The New York Times recently explored this phenomenon in an article headlined, "Calling in late." The premise: You're not really late if you've called to say you will be late. Back in the dark and silent pre-cellphone ages, the guilty would have been forced to locate a working pay phone - or show up on time - to avoid annoying a date, friend, spouse, parent, or child.
According to The Times, "Researchers who study the effect of cellphones on society talk of a nation living in 'soft time' - a bubble in which expectations of where and when to meet shift constantly because people expect others to be constantly reachable."
This is a bizarre development and could lead to a world in which everyone just stays home and communicates via cell phone. That way no one will ever be late again. What's more, life in that world would be guilt-free - and would help each of us use up all those minutes.
- Chicago Tribune
* * *
Milestone for justice
The U.S. House did the right thing by authorizing more than $1 billion to expand the use of DNA evidence in criminal cases, including helping states determine the guilt or innocence of death row inmates.
Now the Senate should approve the bill to give states $755 million over five years to reduce a backlog of 350,000 DNA samples, mostly from unsolved rape cases, awaiting tests in crime labs nationwide. Since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed reinstatement of the death penalty, DNA evidence has cleared 111 death row inmates.
The House bill is no cure-all. It doesn't provide money for postconviction DNA testing in states without a death penalty.
Nor does the bill help strapped innocence projects get the resources to analyze thousands of prisoner cases and then do the legal work for DNA challenges.
That said, the House bill is rightfully regarded as a milestone by many reformers. A bipartisan consensus has finally emerged: The nation must fix serious flaws in how criminal justice works.
- Detroit Free Press
* * *
Copyright 2003 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.
OTHER EDITORIALS
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
11-12-2003
OTHER EDITORIALS
Date: 11-12-2003, Wednesday
Section: OPINION
Edtion: All Editions.=.Two Star B. Two Star P. One Star B
Column: OTHER EDITORIALS
'Soft time'
Cellphones are ubiquitous - where you live, walk, and work; on trains, planes, and buses; in stores, parks, and restaurants; in courtrooms, cloakrooms, and restrooms.
Ye gods, that's lot of urgent business being conducted. Or is it? Eavesdrop and you'll hear many variations on one especially lame theme: "I'm at the corner/leaving the office/stepping out of the car, and I'll be there in 10 minutes."
Sure, somewhere at this moment a mogul is closing a mega-deal via cellphone and a 60-something is learning he's a grandpa for the very first time, courtesy of Verizon or Cingular.
But many of these calls merely enable people to stretch time. The New York Times recently explored this phenomenon in an article headlined, "Calling in late." The premise: You're not really late if you've called to say you will be late. Back in the dark and silent pre-cellphone ages, the guilty would have been forced to locate a working pay phone - or show up on time - to avoid annoying a date, friend, spouse, parent, or child.
According to The Times, "Researchers who study the effect of cellphones on society talk of a nation living in 'soft time' - a bubble in which expectations of where and when to meet shift constantly because people expect others to be constantly reachable."
This is a bizarre development and could lead to a world in which everyone just stays home and communicates via cell phone. That way no one will ever be late again. What's more, life in that world would be guilt-free - and would help each of us use up all those minutes.
- Chicago Tribune
* * *
Milestone for justice
The U.S. House did the right thing by authorizing more than $1 billion to expand the use of DNA evidence in criminal cases, including helping states determine the guilt or innocence of death row inmates.
Now the Senate should approve the bill to give states $755 million over five years to reduce a backlog of 350,000 DNA samples, mostly from unsolved rape cases, awaiting tests in crime labs nationwide. Since 1976, when the Supreme Court allowed reinstatement of the death penalty, DNA evidence has cleared 111 death row inmates.
The House bill is no cure-all. It doesn't provide money for postconviction DNA testing in states without a death penalty.
Nor does the bill help strapped innocence projects get the resources to analyze thousands of prisoner cases and then do the legal work for DNA challenges.
That said, the House bill is rightfully regarded as a milestone by many reformers. A bipartisan consensus has finally emerged: The nation must fix serious flaws in how criminal justice works.
- Detroit Free Press
* * *
Copyright 2003 Bergen Record Corp. All rights reserved.
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