First, the factor that leading innocent people be charged is flawed eyewitness identification. Eyewitness is one of principal evidences that policies are looking because someone has knowledge about the crime. A study of contributing causes of wrongful convictions show us that 72% are eyewitness because of misidentification ( The causes of wrongful conviction, 1). This study demonstrated that eyewitness is the highest in wrongful convictions. For example, in the documentary Mr Stephens was the eyewitness which, it is the strong evidence that Detective Williams used against Butler. Mr Stephens told the police that he saw a 6-feet tall men between 20 to 25 years-old. Even though the description given by Mr Stephens did not match with
Eyewitness accounts play a huge role in general in trials and verdicts, but may be unreliable many times, with certain views placed on evidence provided by children. Unreliability may arise from not being able to recount the identity of the accused, the actions and speech occurring during that time, the relationship of individuals towards the person in question, and many
Five percent of U.S citizens have been wrongfully convicted. The book “Monster” written by Walter Dean Myers is about Steve who is on trail for a murder that he didn’t commit. There is agreeance with the jury that Steve isn’t guilty because there is a lack of evidence of his involvement and it is inferred that Steve doesn’t have a criminal record. To begin with, there was a lack of evidence of Steve’s involvement. The author wrote “one of the men arguing she points to King”(Myers 114).
He believed that because Blackburn bore a striking resemblance to a photograph of the offender, he must be the culprit (New South Wales 1990). Furthermore, victim identification of Mr Blackburn through ‘operation photo’ fuelled this opinion despite negative identification and other conflicting evidence. In Addition, direct involvement by senior police into the matter resulted in confusion and miscommunication between the lines of enquiry and command which led to a lack of questioning to check the worth or value of the evidence created through ‘operation photo’ (New South Wales 1990). This essay will argue that the miscarriage of justice for Mr Blackburn was founded on police incompetence and negligence regarding the evaluation of evidence and a failure to objectively and neutrally approach the case. It will do this through critique of the evidence, in particular the identification evidence, presented or ignored which could implicate Mr Blackburn under the law as it stood then and as it stands
Butler, as the guilty one, which he did without having all his facts right. After Mr. Stephens identified Mr. Butler as the one who committed the crime the police took Mr. Butler to the police station where he was practically coerced to confess to a felony he knew nothing about. But when the case reached the court chambers, and aware they had no case to prosecute, the police officers chose to give forceful confessions, which further weakened their case (De Lestrade, 2001). The attorney of the accused (Mr. Butler), Patrick McGuinness, knowing that the prosecution’s case had reeked to high heavens, framed a powerful defense that exposed the false confessions given by the police and the shoddy investigations done by the detectives involved in the case (De Lestrade, 2001). In the end, Mr. Butler gained his rights and freedom back, which were denied to him when the police, the media, and public sentenced him wrongly.
Manufacturing Guilt Wrongful Convictions in Canada, follows the theme of the first edition where the authors demonstrate what leads to wrongful conviction. We all know that innocent mistakes happen however, wrongful convictions are usually the result of deliberate actions of those working in the criminal justice system and not unintended errors. By using Canadian cases as miscarriages of justice, the authors argues that understanding wrongful convictions and how to prevent them is incomplete outside the broader societal context in which they occur, particularly regarding racial and social inequality. This book also analyzes how forensic science is used as a resource for prosecutors rather than seeking the truth. What is miscarriage of justice?
In the book “Picking Cotton”, the former Burlington Police Chief Mike Gauldin, who was the lead detective on Jennifer’s case, was certainly sure that Ronald Cotton was the guy he was looking for after Jennifer picked him twice (Jennifer, Ronald, Erin 80); also, on the McCallum’s case, the polices also chose to trust eyewitnesses when they did not have enough physical evidences. Furthermore, judges can be wrong sometime. Wise and Safer, who are authors of the report “ what US judges know and believe about eyewitness testimony”, surveyed 160 U.S. judges to determine how much they know about eyewitness testimony on a small test( Wise, Safer, 427-432). However, the survey responds the average judges in the U.S. only 55% correct within 14 questions (Wise, Safer, 431-432). Moreover, most of the judges who were surveyed did not know key facts about eyewitness testimony.
The case highlights the problems associated with flawed eyewitness identification, prosecutorial misconduct, and inadequate legal representation. By addressing these issues through comprehensive reforms, such as improving eyewitness identification procedures, increasing accountability for prosecutors, and providing adequate resources for public defenders, we can work towards a more just and equitable system. The case of Lamar Johnson not only underscores the importance of rectifying individual wrongful convictions but also emphasizes the broader implications for our society and the urgent need for criminal justice
The pursuit of justice has always been rooted in good will, to succeed those who have been wronged. Our system is set in place to protect the people, and acts as a model to prosecute the evil in society. Though, in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, Willingham has faced the harsh reality that the system has failed him. In reality, there is no perfect system, as human incompetence and arrogance plague the road to justice. When the pieces appear to conveniently fall into place for an investigation, the narrow-minded are quick to call a verdict.
There will always be a biased jury, or inconclusive evidence to support that a crime, like that of Tom Robinson’s, to kill a human being. We will be taking an in depth look at the faults of this
Wrongful convictions are a problem that most government officials won’t admit. The United States and other countries such as Australia have been susceptible to these miscarriages of justice. This can arise from a snowball effect of scenarios such as witness misidentification, perjured testimonies, coercive methods of interrogation, prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective counsel. These are some of the reasons that can potentially lead innocent people to be convicted of crimes they did not commit. The thousands of exonerations in the United States has caused concern for other nations to reevaluate their criminal justice system.
She urges jurors to remain skeptical of eyewitness identifications of defendants, and demonstrates how mistakes have been made. This book is built around descriptions of cases in which Loftus has been involved as an expert witness for the defense. The book begins with a brief description
This week’s topic was very interesting to learn about how important eyewitnesses can be when a crime and accidents do occur. In the case that was presented in the 60-minute segment of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson is exactly how legal system can fail us when it comes to the eyewitnesses’ identification testimony and how a person’s perception and memory can be altered. The aspect of psychology and law research from this week’s course material is most relevant to the topic of perception and memory. The memory has different stages the first is encoding the process of entering perception into memory.
Luckily, it is known what causes wrongful convictions and how to fix them. Many wrongful convictions are due to mistaken eyewitnesses, jailhouse snitches, or false evidence. I think many of the wrongful convictions could be solved with harder evidence, more information. A case should not rely on a single eye witness but multiple.
Furthermore, there can be several factors at play when a wrongful conviction occurs and each case is unique. Three of the more common and detrimental factors that will be explored in this essay are eyewitness error, the use of jailhouse informants and professional and institutional misconduct. Firstly, eyewitness testimony can be a major contributor to a conviction and is an important factor in wrongful conviction (Campbell & Denov, 2016, p. 227). Witness recall and, frankly, the human emory are not as reliable as previously thought. In fact there has been much research showing the problems with eyewitness testimony such as suggestive police interviewing, unconscious transference, and malleability of confidence (Campbell & Denov, 2016, p.227).
The principle in law that one is innocent until proven guilty has created much discourse. There are those who feel that the moment that one is arrested, there is reasonable belief that they committed the crime. However, there are those who feel that just as the principle states, one is, and should be taken as a victim and the outcome could be either way: guilty or not guilty. In fact, this argument is supported by the many cases of malicious prosecutions and mistaken identities.