Steven Drizin Quotations

I am grateful that (Weathers) is looking into this ... and that his office was not at all interested in bringing any charges against Mr. Roberts for his recantation.

Overcoming a confession in the best of circumstances is a difficult hurdle.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that there were serious problems with this guy's story and that they should be continuing to investigate other suspects.

Juries often don't buy the idea that someone can't distinguish right from wrong.

While a 14- or 17-year-old knows the difference between right and wrong, they don't have the same abilities to control their behaviors and assess risks the way adults do.

It's taken 45 years but Johnny Lee Roberts has finally felt comfortable enough to tell the truth of what happened to Kennard. His courage is now causing others to come forward, including prominent whites, to express their long-held misgivings about Kennard's conviction.

It's been almost completely rejected in the scientific community. Nobody believes in it.

I know that the parole board is anxious to receive this petition and I hope to allay their anxieties as soon as possible.

Immature brain development is not an excuse for juvenile criminal activity, ... (But) it is an explanation which mitigates their culpability. It explains why they should be held accountable and in some cases punished severely, but never as severely as an adult who commits the same crime.

I don't think most cops have read the studies that call the relevance of the machine into question.