Sandra Bland Act implementation, inadmissible forensics, the case for corroboration, and other stories

A few tidbits to clear Grits' browser tabs while your correspondent is focused elsewhere and the entire state prays for Houston to dry out:

• Here are links to all the handouts and biographies of witnesses at a recent Texas House County Affairs Committee hearing on implementation of the Sandra Bland Act.
• A municipal court judge from Corsicana highlights some less-discussed bills that take effect in Texas September 1st.
• Grits had noted when the Forensic Science Commission asked the Attorney General about the admissibility of forensics which are neither accredited nor exempt from accreditation. But I never noticed when the opinion came out in January. The AG says Texas courts would likely interpret the Code of Criminal Procedure to hold such forensic evidence inadmissible.
• Read a summary of major, recent criminal-justice reforms in Louisiana that's receiving rave reviews.
• A pair of heavy hitters in the corrections field recently discussed why reducing probation populations is key to ending mass incarceration.
• The Vera Institute confronts "The Prison Paradox: More Incarceration Will Not Make Us Safer." 
• The Philadelphia Inquirer makes the case that eyewitness testimony alone should never send anyone to prison. Grits agrees, with the caveat that the limitation need only apply when the victim/witness did not previously know the defendant. In those cases, corroboration should be required to convict.
• Campaign Zero has updated its resource page on police accountability issues and it's excellent.