By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-945000.mp3
Dallas, TX – Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins is using Facebook and YouTube to lobby for changes in criminal law this legislative session. KERA's BJ Austin reports.
As the 82nd Texas Legislature was gaveled into session, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins fired up the video camera to take his legislative package to Facebook and YouTube.
Watkins: This is the first of many opportunities I will take to discuss with you, the citizens of Dallas County of this state and of this country on how we can improve the criminal justice system.
D-A Watkins, whose work with the Innocence Project has led to the DNA exonerations of more than 20 wrongfully convicted men wants a law to require a DNA sample for every arrest made.
Watkins: All it requires is for a police officer to swab the inside of your mouth and put it in a test tube. And that test tube could be tested at a later date to determine if you committed other crimes. And that's just good law enforcement.
The D-A also wants to reform eyewitness identification procedures for all police departments and require police to video interrogations and confessions.
Watkins: When we go to court we can have a person on videotape or CD or even on your iPhone recorded confessing to the crime. So they don't have the ability to come back and say no I never said that, I never did that. It should be recorded.
Watkins also wants a statewide standard for retention and storage of evidence and student loan forgiveness for young prosecutors who stay with a D-A's office for five years. Watkins plans to travel to Austin for some traditional lobbying of lawmakers, but intends to marshal support and gain momentum for the reforms through social media.