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The Appeals Process

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144 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973 (Levy 1). People exonerated and convicts sent to prison for crimes they did not commit have been given unfair trials. If a trial court makes a legal error, a party can file an appeal, which raises the question on whether the United States appeals process is even effective in criminal cases (The Judicial Learning Center 1). Understanding the effectiveness of the appeals process for criminal cases is essential for improving it to ensure people are not exonerated or unjustly punished. The appeals process is when the losing party in a decision by a trial court in the federal system decides to appeal the decision to the next highest court, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. In criminal …show more content…

(The Judicial Learning Center 1). According to the United States Department of Justice, in about 95% of appealed criminal cases, the decision upholds or affirms the criminal conviction. The United States Department of Justice website is a government run website that is used to provide unbiased information about the American justice system. The website explains the appeals process is a lengthy process that rarely overturns prior decisions made in lower courts. (United States Department of Justice 1). In Jimmy Dill’s case, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) filed an appeal to overturn the lower courts decision, but the appeal was unsuccessful and Jimmy Dill was executed, despite there being concerns he didn’t receive necessary legal assistance. The EJI website explains in their point of view why Jimmy Dill’s execution was unjust in order to get people to understand the unfairness of the American justice system and appeal process. (Equal justice Initiative 1) Another website, FindLaw, explains the appeals process and it can be concluded from the website that the appeals process is unjust because only a …show more content…

On the other hand, only some websites mention the fact that some attorneys are inadequate at their jobs because this is not necessarily a fact and it is not essential information for a person to understand the appeals process. Also, some websites neglect to mention how long the appeals process takes. Since not every website mentions everything about the appeals process, it is important for a person who is researching the effectiveness of the appeals process to look at multiple sources. If a person just looks at the website that says defendants who are determined to be indigent are appointed an attorney, they will get the false impression that is a good thing, but that is not always true (United States Department of Justice 1). A person does not get to choose which attorney they are appointed and not all attorneys are adequate at their jobs. When all the information from multiple sources is put together, it can easily be concluded that the United States appeals process is ineffective in criminal cases. Since the United States appeals process is ineffective in criminal cases, the question arises on how do American citizens improve the appeals process? Some of the reasons the current appeals process is ineffective is because appeals are often denied,

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