:00:00. > :00:00.at 11 o'clock. With more on the aeroplane crash in the Sinai
:00:07. > :00:18.Peninsula. And now we have Reporters.
:00:19. > :00:27.Welcome to Reporters. We send our correspondence to bring you the best
:00:28. > :00:31.stories from across the globe. In this week's programme, 23 years in
:00:32. > :00:36.jail for a murder that another man was convicted of, we report on what
:00:37. > :00:41.could be one of America's worst miscarriages of justice in decades.
:00:42. > :00:46.Can you feel confident that he played no part in the murder? Oh,
:00:47. > :00:52.yeah, I fully believe that to this day. Africa's new army, Karen Allen
:00:53. > :00:57.goes on the front line with the rapid reaction forces. These war
:00:58. > :01:00.games are designed to test the battle readiness of these troops,
:01:01. > :01:04.and many of them have combat experience, but this will also test
:01:05. > :01:10.how well be different nationalities are able to communicate and
:01:11. > :01:16.coordinate with each other. And... Giving the girls centrestage, Jane
:01:17. > :01:18.O'Brien reports on women's voices, Festival in Washington trying to
:01:19. > :01:29.bridge the gender gap in American theatre. -- a festival. We are going
:01:30. > :01:34.to die. We keep on seeing the same story from the same point of view.
:01:35. > :01:38.It has been called one of America's worst racially connected
:01:39. > :01:44.miscarriages of justice, an African-American man has been in
:01:45. > :01:53.jail for over 20 years after another man was convicted of the murder.
:01:54. > :01:56.Julie Scott was in holiday in New Orleans in 1982, but the court found
:01:57. > :02:07.a second man guilty of her murder and then Robert Jones is still
:02:08. > :02:10.behind bars. It was right here, 23 years ago, that a newly engaged
:02:11. > :02:16.British couple were walking when they were confronted by gunmen. He
:02:17. > :02:22.tried to rob them, but in the chaos, Julie was shot in the head and died.
:02:23. > :02:27.The murder of a tourist was huge news at the time, and back in the UK
:02:28. > :02:33.the media took up because, one newspaper offering a big reward to
:02:34. > :02:38.try to catch the gunmen. That led to calls and false leaves, but on the
:02:39. > :02:42.basis of one tip police brought in Robert Jones, 19-year-old who had
:02:43. > :02:46.never had a criminal conviction. His arrest hippie helplines, and was
:02:47. > :02:54.seen by some media as a triumph -- hit the headlines. The murder of
:02:55. > :02:58.Julie Stott was part of a crime spree happening at the time in the
:02:59. > :03:02.city, and in each case there were similar descriptions of the car that
:03:03. > :03:05.was used and the attacker, but an early indication that Robert Jones
:03:06. > :03:12.was not that man was that even after his arrest the crime spree
:03:13. > :03:15.continued. This man, Lester Jones, no relation to Robert, matched the
:03:16. > :03:22.witness descriptions and was finally arrested, for crimes -- and the
:03:23. > :03:26.crime sprees ended. He was found with the gun used to kill Julie
:03:27. > :03:33.Stott, and Lester Jones was later convicted of her murder, but Robert
:03:34. > :03:39.Jones was never released. The murder detective from the time was shocked
:03:40. > :03:43.years later, to find that two men were serving time for the same
:03:44. > :03:47.killing. As the detectives that worked on the case, we were under
:03:48. > :03:51.the impression, we felt as though there was only one person involved
:03:52. > :03:56.in the murder, and that was Lester Jones, because everything tied to
:03:57. > :04:01.him. Weeks scooted everybody else. Can you feel confident that Robert
:04:02. > :04:05.Jones played no part in the murder? Oh yeah, I firmly believe this until
:04:06. > :04:09.this day. In a trial that lasted less than ten hours, when crucial
:04:10. > :04:17.evidence was withheld, Robert was convicted of several other crimes in
:04:18. > :04:20.this spree, including full rate and a killing that somebody else had
:04:21. > :04:26.already been convicted for, and he has been behind bars ever since. The
:04:27. > :04:31.district attorney says he is trying to correct the wrongs of the past.
:04:32. > :04:35.The reputation of this office traditionally has been stained,
:04:36. > :04:38.there is no question about that. There's also no question that there
:04:39. > :04:47.have been cases, this is not the only case, there been other cases
:04:48. > :04:49.where prosecutors intentionally or negligently, withheld evidence, so I
:04:50. > :04:56.don't think there is a question about that. The best I can do is
:04:57. > :05:00.move forward. But so long after the murder of Julie Stott, Robert Jones
:05:01. > :05:04.is still waiting for news that he can walk free. Many now feel every
:05:05. > :05:14.new day he is denied his freedom is a travesty. 13 years after it was
:05:15. > :05:19.first conceived in Africa is about to get its own army, and the new
:05:20. > :05:23.African stand-by Force will be able to respond to crises on the
:05:24. > :05:27.continent from civil war and genocide to humanitarian disasters.
:05:28. > :05:32.The African union force, which will begin in January, is seen as a
:05:33. > :05:36.significant step in Africa being able to look after some of its own
:05:37. > :05:39.security problems. Karen Allen has been given special access to its
:05:40. > :05:49.training exercises in the Northern Cape region. The new landscape of
:05:50. > :05:53.the African battlefield. As early as next year, these troops could be
:05:54. > :05:58.scrambled to crises rather than rely on foreign boots on the ground. The
:05:59. > :06:02.African stand-by force is being put through its final paces in this
:06:03. > :06:12.major exercise. We are not going further than that. Many languages,
:06:13. > :06:20.one drill, part of a multinational force. Capable of being deployed
:06:21. > :06:23.with just a fortnight's notice. These war games I'd assign not just
:06:24. > :06:27.to test the battle readiness of these troops, many of them have
:06:28. > :06:31.combat experience, but this is also testing how well the different
:06:32. > :06:37.nationalities are able to communicate and coordinate with each
:06:38. > :06:42.other. The clear message, this is an African solution to an African
:06:43. > :06:46.problem. But Africa's problems are fast becoming the world's problems,
:06:47. > :06:51.thousands of miles on here, refugees are surging into Europe. Conflicts
:06:52. > :06:54.have changed and they no longer respect borders, they are
:06:55. > :07:02.transnational, and the source of the conflict today could be in your
:07:03. > :07:07.backyard tomorrow, it is a case that we are all in this together. And
:07:08. > :07:10.that is why the rich world is being asked to get on board and to
:07:11. > :07:14.contribute to the $1 billion it is expected to cost to make the
:07:15. > :07:18.stand-by force operational. What we want is to have the African military
:07:19. > :07:23.and please and the civilians to actually create this peaceful
:07:24. > :07:26.environment in which you can get development, economic development,
:07:27. > :07:29.social development, and once you have got that, surely there is not
:07:30. > :07:35.such a great desire to want to move to another country. The troops might
:07:36. > :07:39.be trying, now it is the politicians who need to be primed to support a
:07:40. > :07:49.force capable of intervening early to stop conflicts, spiralling into
:07:50. > :07:52.all-out wars. Struggling artists are nothing new, but if you have written
:07:53. > :07:57.a play and you are a woman the odds of getting a performed in the US are
:07:58. > :08:00.stacked against you, and in the last three years only 20% of all plays
:08:01. > :08:06.produced in America were written by women. A festival in Washington,
:08:07. > :08:09.called women's voices, is trying to address the gender gap, and there
:08:10. > :08:18.will be 56 world premiere is all penned by women. Jeremy has been to
:08:19. > :08:22.meet some of them. In a matter of work, Hannah, an old slave, talks
:08:23. > :08:27.about the value of life, the play was inspired by a real bill of sale
:08:28. > :08:36.which valued Hannah at a dollar and a meal at $5. -- mule. For Marcia
:08:37. > :08:39.Cole, this was a story she had to tell, even though American Theatres
:08:40. > :08:45.produced relatively few plays by women. I was not surprised that I
:08:46. > :08:52.was generally dismiss, that is what many female playwrights phase, --
:08:53. > :08:55.phase, but they don't take women as serious the as they might, and we
:08:56. > :09:00.really have got something to say. Her play is 156 new works making
:09:01. > :09:05.their debut during the women's voices Theatre Festival -- one of
:09:06. > :09:08.56. The first event to raise the issue of gender disparity in
:09:09. > :09:11.American Theatres, barely one in five plays to hit the stage in the
:09:12. > :09:22.last few years was written by a woman. But why does that matter? If
:09:23. > :09:26.we don't need women's place can we don't need anyone's plays, but for
:09:27. > :09:30.the health of the artistic field we need a diversity of voices, and if
:09:31. > :09:35.we keep on seeing the same plate on the same person from the same
:09:36. > :09:43.background with the same prejudices, we are going to die. As an artistic
:09:44. > :09:47.field. At historic forts Theatre comedy stage is being prepared a
:09:48. > :09:53.very different play, the guard by Jessica Dickey, which examines our
:09:54. > :09:58.relationship with art over time. So why are more plays by women not
:09:59. > :10:02.being produced? If you look at directors across the country, most
:10:03. > :10:05.of the artistic directors are men, and men tend to be Jews male
:10:06. > :10:11.playwrights. You produce what you know and who you know -- men tend to
:10:12. > :10:15.produce male playwrights. We have got to be more conscious about
:10:16. > :10:19.saying who are the playwrights we are producing within a season. 46
:10:20. > :10:22.Theatres in the Washington district have been taking part in the
:10:23. > :10:26.festival and other regions might follow suit, but many say that the
:10:27. > :10:33.gender gap will not be narrowed until women are viewed differently
:10:34. > :10:44.both on and off the stage. And that is all from Reporters this week.
:10:45. > :10:57.From everyone at the team and here in London, goodbye.
:10:58. > :11:02.It was a very mild Halloween, with temperatures in the middle teens,
:11:03. > :11:03.but overnight