There is a just a lot of tension of sitting in the same room, ' ' with a suspect, Mitsch said. Then add to that a culture of guns, gangs and the drug trade where retaliation and payback is part of the business model. Often Mitsch and Johnston said a suspect 's family members or friends will show up at a trial en mass and intimidate witnesses. Sometimes they take photos in the hallways or in the courtroom and post them to social media sites or text others back in the neighborhood labeling a witness as a snitch. Instead, Mitsch said: "We want to get support in there and create our own entourage and keep it in
Obstruction and Resisting Arrest On 10/26/2015 around 2230 hours, I, Sgt. Samuel Mendoza, was working in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Jail when we received a call that a deputy was bringing in a combative male. I went to the jail entrance to wait on the deputy. When the deputy arrived with the male subject, I opened the left rear passenger side door of the patrol car and began to talk with him.
Followed by the lack of corroboration, which is an important aspect in courtrooms, “corroboration will add credibility to the memory and lack of it may raise doubts about the allegations.” Loftus considers that relying on memory is not a valid way of justice; the legal system needs to improve when eyewitness testimonials are used in the courts. Loftus confides as a psychologist that psychological science has taught them about human memory and that the research has revealed the limits of human memory. Adding on, these research findings need to be incorporated in procedures to improve the court system. She hopes readers will acknowledge the fact that the use of memories in a trial can be problematic since they are “dangerous” and can lead to false
The policy problem that I have identified is Georgia’s Racial Profiling Law HB 87. The problem with the policy is that it makes every citizen other than Caucasian, a target in the eyes of the police. This policy allows the local and state police the authority to ask anyone with Hispanic decent or with an accent the right to ask for identification or immigration card. This procedure is done to see if the individual is legal the issue also doesn’t give officers the proper training to identify those individuals who are residing in Georgia illegally. As a result, if a crime is committed in the Hispanic or foreign communities, no one will be willing to help the authorities because they fear being prosecuted themselves.
Another prisoner at the jail said Miguel confessed to him and he testified for a reduced sentence (Cameron). This shows the prisoner lied to get a reduced sentence. 15% of wrongful convictions had another prisoner confessed against the victim (Cameron). The author states this to show how prisoners will lie for reduced sentences and plea deals. In the modern era of the death penalty, Around half of the death row inmates who have been wrongfully convicted have been convicted by prison informants (Balko).
The police intimidation sets a high amount of pressure on the suspect. For instance, Miranda did not have a lawyer present and was consistently put through questioning for two hours that led him to his confession. The court’s ruling showed the degree of the assurance of self-incrimination, specifically dealing with the mistreatment of suspect by the police during
People don’t like to be proven wrong. When they are proven wrong they do drastic things to try and prove they aren’t. For example, in the cases of the West Memphis Three and the Central Park Five, people were proved wrong, but still did wrongful things, because of their ego. With modernized technology constantly coming out, it is important to use the new technology to have a more fair and accurate justice system.
they retracted their statements within two weeks, claiming that police had coerced them to make false confessions. Police subculture suggests that because police officers spend so much time dealing with crime that they tend to view members of the public as untrustworthy and potentially hostile. This could be a possible explanation as to why these teens were targeted so maliciously. The detectives actually had used ruses to convince the suspects to confess, with Salaam confessing to having been present only after he was told that his fingerprints were found on the victim’s clothing. While the confessions were recorded, the interrogations were not.
The aspect of psychology and law research from this week is correlated to the week four-course material is most relevant to the topic of interrogations and false confession techniques that are used by the detectives. In the case that was presented in the documentary West of Memphis is an investigation of a failure of justice in Arkansas. The interrogation methods from the detectives lead to a false confession. A false confession is an admission to a criminal act that the confessor did not commit (Greene & Heilbrun, 2014, p. 165).
False Confessions One of the biggest problems that our criminal justice system is facing is false confessions, whether they are coerced or done for attention. In an article written by the Innocence Project, it states "More than 1 out of every 4 people wrongfully convicted but later exonerated by DNA evidence made a false confession or incriminating statement. "(1). What would lead someone to open their lives to judgment and persecution, by confessing to a crime that they didn 't commit? There are many possible reasons, ranging from duress, ignorance when it comes to community laws, and mental impairment.
Although, this tactic does not always work, it can cause some problems. Officers are supposed to use the tactic when there is a suspected criminal, but if it turns out there is no criminal it can cause many problems. Officers do not need to persuade the innocent because then the cops are just creating crime witch is the opposite of what they are supposed to do. The main point of this article is that it wants to make the structure and the frame work of the entrapment system clearer and more precise. The article identifies ways to make entrapment more stable and clearer.
March 17, 1838 Dear Diary, Today while sitting in the crispy cold weather, with the clothes that now resembled rags, I sat pondering my life. My face now covered in the unpleasant texture of dirt and smut from the factory; now appeared to have become a part of m. My hands disarrayed and my cracked hands bandaged lay tight in my lap and now mirrored my life. I haven’t any parents to speak of so I found myself this alley where I write to you. Not far from work I await the loud bell to alarm me of my next shift down at the factory.
The police may ask you to make a statement. You will be questioned and threatened by the police which is witness intimidation. The police are only intimidating the witness because they want to make sure they get criminal off the streets, and the investigation is carried out. By providing accurate information to the police, they will be able to bring the criminal in, question him and he may possibly get convicted the same day. Many cases need a key witness so that the police job is easier.
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).
“Courts have permitted the interrogators to tell the suspect that if he confesses his conscience will be comforted or they will inform the suspect’s cooperation to the court” (Richard 2008). It is unethical to promise and give hope to the suspect that will not be met in order to obtain a voluntary confession which are induced. During interrogation someone may walk in and hide his identity like being a police officer, while acting like someone else and promise the suspect that he or she is here to help and they are in good hands. Doing this is violating the rights of the suspect and should be taken into consideration, because it inflicts the mind of a suspect. If the suspect is going to confess it should be voluntary not being forced to “voluntary
