Mansfield University Home PageAugust 2008
Dr. Scott Thornsley was a featured commentator for National Public Radio in early August, speaking to the issue of why so few states provide compensation for individuals who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes. Dr. Thornsley mentioned the work done by Dr. Tim Madigan of the Sociology Department and the results obtained from Mansfield University’s 2006 & 2007 annual state surveys, which reveal that 75% of Pennsylvanians favor compensating wrongfully convicted individuals.
Dr. Thornsley regularly speaks to the issue of compensating individuals who have been wrongfully convicted in his classes, which led to his writing an editorial in Harrisburg’s Sunday Patriot-News in February 2006. Students in Dr. Thornsley’s corrections classes routinely write to Pennsylvania state lawmakers and editorial boards across the state about this issue and others.
This is the third time that Dr. Thornsley has been heard on National Public Radio since coming to Mansfield in 2008.
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June 2, 2008 Dr. Thornsley was interrogated at an evidentiary hearing before a federal judge for the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania in Scranton. Dr Thornsley testified about Pennsylvania's practice of hearing life-sentenced inmates before the State Board of Pardons. Click here to read more. |
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June 5 2005
Dr Thornsley, chairman of the Advisory Committee, to investigate Pennsylvania's seriously ill and geriatric inmate population presented his committee's report to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The report culminated a two year investigative effort under the jurisdiction of the Joint State Government Commission. The report was required under Senate Resolution #149 of 2002.
May 5, 2005
Dr. Thornsley appeared before the state Board of Pardons representing life-sentenced inmate Kevin Smith. This was only the third time the Board of Pardons granted a public hearing to a life-sentenced inmate since 1996. The Board voted 4-1 to recomment Smith to the govenor for a commutation of his life sentence. However, a unanimous vote is required.
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March 2004 Dr. Thornsley has been highlighted as one of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education's 10 Most Interesting Professors since March 2004. The State System employs over 5,600 professors. |
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April 2003 Dr. Thornsley, along with Mark Fuhrman (former LAPD Detective of the OJ Simpson case), was a keynote speaker at the Pennsylvania Institute for Law Enforcement Education's annual conference. |
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| February 2003
Dr. Thornsley spoke with newly elected PA Governor Ed Rendell during a private reception in Wellsboro. Dr. Thornsley was a member of Governor Rendell's Transition Team that prepared confidential reports on both the PA Department of Connections and the PA Board of Probation and Parole. |
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October 2002 Dr Thornsley appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert after the Washington D.C. sniper spree incident. Dr Thornsley was one of the country's most frequently quoted analysts, appearing on hundreds of newspapers, national public radio station, as well as on CBS, NBC and CNN television. |
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