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Florida passes compromised snitching reforms

While legislation in Texas is moving along to protect innocent defendants by requiring corroboration to obtain a conviction based on testimony from jailhouse informants, Florida's GOP Governor Charlie Crist just signed a bill (discussed here on Grits previously) to protect the rights of informants themselves. According to the Tampa Bay Times:The legislation is named for Rachel Hoffman, a Florida State University grad who was murdered while on an undercover drug buy for Tallahassee police a year ago today. ..."Rachel's Law" calls on agencies to take into account a person's age and maturity, emotional state and the level of risk a mission would entail. Police also would be barred from promising an informer more lenient treatment; only prosecutors and judges can do that...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 07, 2009 (boomark / email).