Cold Cases should be Reopened Introduction In the past, finding more than one suspects at a crime scene was likely to lead to a dead-end investigation, and in other cases the arrest of an innocent suspect, instead of the criminal that committed the crime (Delvin para 3). The indication of making an illegal decision is that the offender would likely be released due to the lack of proof, and an innocent person sentenced to jail for an offense they did not committed. In essence, many injustices have been committed against the victims of crimes and the suspects that go to jail or receive other punishment are innocent persons. However, the recent discovery of DNA technology and changes of law have led to the realization that the new technology …show more content…
As an example, in 1990, a number of brutal attacks were made against elderly victims in Goldsboro, and the unknown criminal was only branded the name “night stalker”, as he was never found (Walton 246). Such cases are not restricted to Goldsboro, North Carolina but are reported all over the country (Shoester 187). During one of the attacks in March 1990, an aged woman was forcefully raped and left at the point of death, except that the daughter’s arrival the next morning allowed medical care save her life (Shoester 187). In a hurry to leave the crime scene, the criminal left the items he intended to use in burning the house so that he could conceal the evidence that would be collected from the site. In July of the same year, a similar case happened, but in the July case, the woman was raped and later murdered by the criminal. After about three months, the third victim was attacked, and like the previous two, she was raped and killed by …show more content…
Referring to the cases from North Carolina, it is likely that failing to reopen the case would have let the criminal free, despite committing high-profile crimes like rape and murder (Shoester 187). It should be noted that arresting an offender that could have continued to commit such killings and rapes, safeguarded the potential victims from experiencing the same pain and death. Beyond the containment of the offender, the victims, and their families received the conclusive determination of the crimes, which would allow them to have peace of mind about the adverse events. Besides the North Carolina case, other similar cases have ended up as cold cases, signifying that a criminal was not jailed, or that the wrong suspect was detained for another’s crimes. Bearing all the facts in mind, the benefits of reopening cold cases will be explored, and a position taken, based on the evidence