From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Capital punishment, due process, and the Constitution.

Hello again, I'm Orin Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

That daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

The National Academy of Sciences has told a Senate committee that much of the forensic evidence used in criminal trials has never been scientifically tested.

The state of Texas may have to admit it executed a man who was legally and factually innocent.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a case where new evidence allegedly shows the innocence of another condemned man.

If the evidence was faulty, does the Constitution require that his life must be saved,

or does his full and free trial justify the death penalty anyway?

On reporter's notebook later on, three highly public incidents of incivility. Is there a

connection? First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. Information at GatesFoundation.org. Hello again, I'm in Alney back with To the Poet. The U.S. Supreme Court says a defendant found guilty after a fair trial does not have the same rights as a free man. Does that mean a condemned man should be put to death even if new evidence shows he was innocent? We'll hear about capital punishment, due process, and the Constitution. On reporter's notebook, a congressman, a tennis champion, and a hip-hop star all violate the conventions of public civility.

Is it a trend?

First, this news update.

One year after the fall of Lehman Brothers, President Obama went to New York today pushing what he called the biggest regulatory reformed since the Great Depression.

He told an audience, including Wall Street executives, they have an obligation to U.S. taxpayers.

They shouldered the burden of the bailout, and they are still bearing the burden of the fallout in lost jobs and lost homes and lost opportunities.

It is neither right nor responsible after you've recovered, with the help of your government,

to shirk your obligation to the goal of wider recover, a more stable system, and a more broadly shared prosperity.

Brady, Dennis, his financial reporter at the Washington Post.

Brady, thanks a lot for being on our program.

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