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Examples Of Wrongful Conviction

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Wrongful conviction has been an emerging and tremendous dilemma in our society since the discovery of DNA analysis. This is a very recent study that has presented another form of evidence that can prove an individual's innocence in ways never before. Forensic scientist collect DNA evidence and run tests to see if there is a match to DNA samples collected at the crime scenes. However, the justice system has not taken this new science into consideration because many influential individuals, such as judges, prosecutor, jurors, and attorneys, do not understand this new science. This leaves the burden to forensic scientist to explain DNA testing to representatives of the court system. Furthermore, the decision to get DNA tested when an individual …show more content…

On May 4th, 1979, a young housewife was raped and suffered a massive amount of blood from a seven-inch stab wounds around throat. Mrs. Patterson tried to get help from her neighbor who lived 200 feet from them. Her two sons went to seek help from their neighbor’s. Unfortunately, Mrs. Patterson died at the crime scene from the four stab wounds.The only witness to the case was Mrs.Patterson’s four-year-old son Luke. When investigators came to the crime scene they collected evidence such as, African American hair, footprints, car trails, and …show more content…

The reason he was living their was because he was convicted earlier that year in March for burglary. As a part of his sentencing he had to live in the center. Ruffin was given a twelve-hour pass where he can leave the center but had to come back. However, he did not return and authorities found him hiding at his girlfriend's house days later. As a result, Ruffin violated probation and because he was hiding at his girlfriend's house it raised suspicion. Considering the fact the Patterson’s house was not too far from Restitution Center, authorities used Ruffin as the leading

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586 Words | 3 Pages

Bennett Barbour was a 22-year-old handyman that was falsely accused of rape to a 19-year-old college student from the College of William and Mary in 1978. The victim was raped while the assailant had a gun to commit a crime, after the incident, the victim called the police and described the rapist as a 145 pound 5’6” tall man (Barbour, 2012). A week later the victim was at a police station and shown different pictures of the person she thought assaulted her, she pointed-out Barbour’s picture and again during two lineups. After, he was arrested and sent to trial. Barbour weighed 115 pounds had a brittle bone disease and had a pin in his elbow, making it impossible to rape anyone (Barbour, 2012).

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926 Words | 4 Pages

Manufacturing Guilt Wrongful Convictions in Canada, Second Edition, is relevant to the course I am taking Social Inequity and Justice because, like my course this book discusses and examines sociological approaches to social inequity in regard to race and ethnicity and how it effects these groups and their lives. Manufacturing Guilt Wrongful Convictions in Canada, Second Edition is about innocent people that spend many years behind bars, wrongfully committed for crimes they did not commit. When someone is wrongfully convicted, they are being punished for an offence they did not commit and to make matters worse the actual perpetrator of the crime goes free. Many people that do get exonerated their applications take years in the federal review

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724 Words | 3 Pages

For the past two decades, “The Innocence Project” with the help of updated science methods have worked relentlessly to get innocent people out of prison. Through DNA testing, they have been able to find new evidence that have freed hundreds of prisoners who were wrongfully convicted. Other factors such as eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, government misconduct, and inadequate defense also played keys roles in the wrongful convictions. The case that I would I would like to highlight today is that of, Johnnie Lindsey. Johnnie Lindsey was a 30-year old laundry worker who was falsely accused of rape.

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1990 Words | 8 Pages

We know that DNA testing is giving hope to the hopeless in prison. Margret Berger (2006) comments, “Even though the number of inmates released as a consequence of DNA testing is minuscule in contrast to the two million persons incarcerated in the United States, the DNA exonerations have had an enormous impact on the fundamental assumptions about the American criminal justice system and how it operates.” Changes like the desirability of the death penalty, the growing concerns on how forensic laboratories operate alongside the increasing interest in forensic science overall. For instance, as the number of exonerations continues to rise, the number of people being placed on death row is decreasing thanks to Supreme Court rulings that juveniles under the age of 18 and the mentally ill cannot be sentenced to death. The death penalty is overall losing its appeal to society, not just because of the DNA testing, but people become aware of the wrongful convictions of other crimes as well.

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2295 Words | 10 Pages

The impact of Tim’s case was also felt on a national and even international level, as it shed light on the importance of using accurate and scientific evidence in the legal system and the need to reform the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions. Tim’s story has inspired many other cases to be re-opened and re-examined, leading to the exoneration of several other innocent individuals. Overall, the case of Tim Cole has had a profound impact on the criminal justice system and has helped to bring about important changes in the use of DNA

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327 Words | 2 Pages

Then Hopwood started receiving more appeals in the mail because people wanted him to help them out on their cases. Soon when Shon was done working on the appeals he would send them off to get help from the bigger law firms. Shon always wrote to Ann Marie, who he thought he would never get a chance to talk to her and who wouldn’t even notice

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1811 Words | 8 Pages

Needing the male influence – Racine would facilitate his present so long as Juice did not double cross her. They were all members of the NRA and, were successful. Sadly – with

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120 Words | 1 Pages

In the case of United States v. Bonds, 12 F.3d 540 (6th Cir. 1993), defendant John Ray Bonds was accused of killing a man during a late night shooting. The basis for his appeal was to suppress the DNA evidence because “at that time the FBI test results had not yet been published in a peer review journal explaining the FBI 's methods and offering data to support the results” (United States v. Bonds, 1993). The defendant also believed different methods for DNA analysis could have provided accurate results rather than a 1 in 35000 probability for the DNA match. The purpose of the case was to determine whether the court made a mistake in admitting DNA evidence in the trial.

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547 Words | 3 Pages

3. Was there a particular DNA testing, the type of DNA or procedure that was used more often than others in the

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1227 Words | 5 Pages

Since the founding of our judicial system there have always been individuals claiming innocence to a crime that they have been found guilty of, traditionally, after their sentencing no matter how innocent they may or may not be would have to serve, live and possibly die by the decision of their peers. The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck alongside Peter J. Neufeld faces this issue by challenging the sentencing of convicted individuals who claim their innocence and have factual ground to stand upon. The Innocence Project uses the recent advances in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing to prove their client’s innocence by using methods that were not available, too primitive or not provided to their clients during their investigation,

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644 Words | 3 Pages

1. Restorative Justice response to the crime/setting Restorative justice is the repair of justice by reaffirming a shared consensus of values involving a joint or multisided approach; emphasizes victim, community, and offender. In the novel Buck: A Memoir by MK Asante Chapter 7 correlates with the perspective restorative justice. The crime in relation to the perspective was when Uzi, Malo’s brother was jailed for sleeping with a white girl that was thirteen after she lied that she was sixteen and him

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133 Words | 1 Pages

There are many reasons for wrongful convictions, in the cases of Ronald Cotton, Christopher Abernathy, and Marvin Anderson, the main evidence that led up to their convictions were eyewitness testimonies. It is sad that people waste so many years of their lives due to false misconstrued information. Therefore, eyewitness testimonies should not be sufficient evidence to make a case. Fortunately, there have been innocent people exonerated and released from prison thanks to DNA testing. People should be cautious when making an eyewitness testimony, they should make sure that they are 100% sure that they are picking the right person.

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

Picture yourself standing there at the scene of a crime while it is still happening. When the police arrive, they take you to jail believing that you committed the crime, having no evidence to prove that you are not guilty of the set crime. Wrongful convictions are prevalent in today’s correction system. Looking at the cases of Albert Woodfox and Valentino Dixon and examples of inadequate defense, government misconduct in the court and prison system, and poor eyewitness accounts this paper will examine factors for wrongful conviction. Picture yourself at court and what kept you from going to jail depended on a defense lawyer.

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539 Words | 3 Pages

The biggest issue within the Criminal Justice system is the large number of wrongful convictions, innocent people sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. People are put in prison for years, even executed for false convictions. This affects not only those put in prison but friends and family of the accused. Wrongful convictions aren’t solely a tragedy for those directly involved either. It weakens the faith the public has for the justice system as well as poses safety issues; when innocent people are put away, the real criminals are still out there.

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1531 Words | 7 Pages

Mr. Woodall’s van was found abandoned at the scene of the crime, his fingerprints and the victim’s blood were discovered in the van, as well as on Mr. Woodall’s front door and inside his home (Supreme Court of Kentucky, 2001). After the autopsy was performed, Mr. Woodall’s DNA was found inside the victim (Cornell University Law School, 2013). At this point, officials felt there was sufficient and compelling evidence to charge Mr. Woodall with

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