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Summary Of Picking Cotton

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However, these two men would not have suffered what they never deserved to if there were enough strong evidence their innocence. According to a survey of Ohio State University, there are about 10,000 people in the United States might be wrongfully convicted of serious crimes each year; also, this survey points out that there are more than half of those wrongfully convicted cases (52.3%) were built on eyewitness misidentification (Tom Spring). Unfortunately, Ronald Cotton was one of victims of those wrongfully convicted cases. The book tells us that after spending 5 minutes of studying mug shot photos, Jennifer, who was a victim of rape, picked Ronald Cotton who was one of the pictured; second, during the lineup, she picked him again without …show more content…

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. For example, the gap between eyewitness’ confidence and accuracy at trial. As we all known, judges play significance rule in court; also, on my point of view, the judge is a symbol of justice. However, when something were done in wrong way, the only way to fix it is to compensate the victims of wrongfully convicted …show more content…

So, more and more victims begin to realize that financial compensation is not enough, and they desire an official apology from the government. I read the final chapters in Picking Cotton very carefully, and tried to find out if there was any sentence which mentions the government made an official apology to Ronald Cotton in public. However, there is not any word that is related to a word “Sorry”. In fact, according to research which was done by Kimberley A. Clow and other co-authors, rather than making an apology, the government appears to avoid facing what it had done wrongfully, which will further victimizing a wrongfully convicted person. Pretending nothing happen is unrealistic, and government should try its best to compensate a victim of wrongful conviction. The past is in the past, and only the future we can change

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In January of 1985, he was convicted by a jury of one count of rape and one count of burglary. In a second trial in 1987, he was convicted of both rapes and two counts of burglary. Cotton’s alibi was supported by family members. During the trial, the jury was not allowed to hear evidence that the second victim failed to pick Cotton out of either a photo array or a police lineup. The prosecution based on its case on the points that a photo identification was made by one of the victims.

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In addition to the harrowing case of Ronald Cotton, the reliability of an eyewitness testimony was recently challenged with the incorrect conviction of Kash Register. While sitting in his parked Chevrolet in 1979, an elderly man named Jack Sasson was viciously robbed of his life when he was shot five times at close proximity (Bazelon). Brenda Anderson, a nineteen year old who occupied an apartment on the same street, informed police that she heard the rowdy sound of gunfire, and when she peered out her window, noticed an African-American man stumbling away from the scene, before turning back and firing further rounds (Bazelon). When Anderson was shown photographs of several young men, she quickly recognized Register, who was a previous classmate

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Jennifer then later had to identify her and another woman's rapist to as she has seen features and things more clearly then the other women who had gotten raped by the same guy in the same night. The line-up did not have Bobby Pole the man who had raped Jennifer but a guy who looked alike, Ronald Cotton. Ronald Cotton was there picked and was

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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.

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Picking Cotton Picking Cotton is a story that entails two individuals’ trials in forgiveness and finding peace. Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton are the two individuals whose lives were changed forever by the events that occurred on that unfortunate night in 1984. Case Events

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The bias and bigotry alive in two communities propelled forward the conviction of two guilt free individuals. There was never any significant correlation between Tom Robinson and Steven Avery, that is until Steven Avery was accused and sentenced for a crime he did not commit; much like the famous character Tom Robinson from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The foundation of such trials, despite baring significant faults, proved strong enough to condemn. Although the Tom Robinson case and the Steven Avery case possess striking differences their resemblances are exceedingly pronounced.

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Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption is a non-fiction book by activists Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, with author Erin Torneo, first published in 2010. It tells the true story of Jennifer Thompson, a young woman who was violently raped in her apartment. She identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker and he was sent to prison. However, after eleven years, new DNA evidence conclusively proved he was innocent, and he was released.

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Suspects were rounded up and Cotton picked. The case was dissected after it fell apart and Gauld learned that memory is fragile, malleable, and that eye recognition is rapid. Thompson studied the composites for five minutes before making her decision. Most likely, she picked the person who most

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We get an insight of it when Cotton went the police station in other to clear his name from such a crime he was being convicted for but arrested instead, due to one of police officer saying “saw your girlfriend earlier. You think you’re Mr. big shot….” (131). This shows how the officer implying that since cotton was dating out of race and the officer not liking the fact of it, assumes because of it he is the main the suspect who commit the crime.

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Cotton was subsequently exonerated by DNA evidence 22 years later. Mr. Cotton was convicted primarily on the eyewitness testimony of Jennifer Thompson the victim. Ms. Thompson had done everything she could think of to memorize every detail of her attacker during the rape. However, she still picked the wrong person out of a photo lineup, and later out of a physical lineup. This was partially due to the investigating officer’s suggestion that the person who attacked her was in one of the photos, and her brain's natural inclination to try to pick the best answer (Eyewitness).

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