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Wrongful Convictions In Criminal Justice

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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. Luckily, it is known what causes wrongful convictions and how to fix them. Many wrongful convictions are due to mistaken eyewitnesses, jailhouse snitches, or false evidence. I think many of the wrongful convictions could be solved with harder evidence, more information. A case should not rely on a single eye witness but multiple. For those in prison, those who snitch saying the defendant confessed, testifying can be a bargaining chip; the state will often reduce sentence time or …show more content…

To be fair, the purpose of most of the crime shows and films is not to convey information or strive for accuracy, but to be entertaining. If the underdog did not win or the victim did not get the happy ending, most viewers would be displeased. Crime is dramatized and romanticized in TV and film to keep the viewer intrigued and watching. One of the most overlooked flaws in crime shows is the logic. Every week the viewer gets an episode of maybe two or three homicides when, in reality, the rate of crime has been dropping. This skews the viewer’s idea of real-life death, thinking it happens more often than it does. Furthermore, crimes are always solved at the end of the film or movie and in the majority of cases the bad guy is always brought to

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Wrongful convictions are not usually thought of but there is a numerous amount of people that have been wrongly convicted throughout the years. Within the US there is about 2 million people behind bars meaning that 1% or 20,000 people are in for a crime they did not commit. But however, in 2015 only 149 people were cleared of a crime they didn’t not commit. Also, recent studies have said 1 out of 25 people on death row is likely innocent. One good website that has a list and the stories of people that were wrongly convicted is innocence project.

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Currently in the United States there are 2 million incarcerated people. America has a wrongful conviction rate of 1 percent which translates to about 20,000 innocent people being punished for crimes they didn’t do. On January 13, 1999, Adnan Syed was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in Baltimore, Maryland. Nobody is completely positive what happened that day or who killed Hae. Most of the suspected events that occurred that day come from the testimony of Jay Wilds, one of Adnan’s friends, who claims to be a witness of the crime and says Adnan is the murderer.

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Serial killers have been a popular topic in Hollywood. There are many documentaries and dramatizations created about serial killers. The public interest in the topic stems from trying to understand what causes these people to commit such acts; serial killers have impacted the police force in so many different ways. Theorists have studied to see whether serial killers are created through childhood drama and environmental influences or determined by intellectual differences. Ted Bundy was one of the infamous serial killers for his actions.

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The original rationale of the rule of the exclusion of the wrongfulness probation has a clear constitutional scope, involves an enhanced warranty for individual rights and seeks to prevent access to process all those evidence to be obtained by the police authorities violated constitutional rights of the people. (Oaks, D. (1970)) One way it has been used in a case was during Boyd V. United States where several cases of plate glass were confiscated from the defendants by federal customs agents due to suspicion that certain documents had been falsified for the purposes of avoiding customs fees or duties. During the course of the proceedings, the defendants were ordered by the judge to produce documents showing the quantity and value of the shipments.

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It is an important issue to be discussed. At this moment it may not directly affect everyone, currently a large percentage of those affected are people in poverty or men of color; but the number of incarcerations has greatly increased over the past “40 years” and may continue to increase in the long run affecting many. Stevenson is trying to raise awareness, informing his audience about the justice system today and how it favors those who are “rich and guilty [rather] than if you’re poor and innocent.” He is trying to raise awareness as to how punishment in the criminal system does not stop at a certain age, and how the death penalty “in America is defined by error.” Through his experiences and efforts he has found a need to bring public awareness as to how unjust the United States criminal system is.

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From this one can conclude that people are trying to stop false witnesses. This is happening by sending them to jail. Three false witnesses in a murder case received double-digit prison sentences (O’Grady). This shows that people are taking steps to the right path of justice. A more specific example can be Austasia Kapteyn.

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Despite all the progress the criminal justice system has made over the years, there will always be flaws due to humanity. Humans will never be perfect, making this the biggest downfall of any operation involving people. In any given situation, there is a decision made to later have an outcome. Depending on the decision and how the situation is viewed, the outcome may be good or bad.

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The five factors associated with wrongful convictions are as follows, adversarial process, eyewitness identification, forensic evidence misconduct/ error, interrogation and confessions, and informants/ jailhouse snitches. The adversarial process relies on the skills and resources of the defense and prosecution. Eyewitness identification includes evidence from a witness who has seen the event and can pick out a perpetrator. Forensic evidence misconduct/ error involves forensic evidence that has been collected poorly or handled wrong down the line and tampered. Interrogation and confessions have exonerated about 20% of the wrongful convictions cases, but with this can lead to false confessions.

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That shows that he didn’t really have reasoning. This also shows how someone can be arrested but their is no evidence. That would be a bad justice system. Walter Dean Myers uses sensory details to show theme. On 145 and 146 the mom asks, “Should I have got a black lawyer?”

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Since 1930, 90 percent of individuals executed for rape have been African Americans. This issue has faced multiple controversies due to the belief of “complete confidence” of the criminal justice system (Harmon, 2004). Wrongful convictions have historically occurred due to the races of the defendant versus the race of the victim. This is an in issue because these cases impair the integrity and reliability of the court system (Harmon, 2004). Wrong convictions are not as uncommon as believed by the public.

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17 year-old charged in 1969 of the rape and murder of Gail Miller, the Saskatoon nurse. This had become one of Canada’s most wrongful convictions. Gail Miller was raped and stabbed at 6:45 a.m on January 31st, 1969. She was left in a snowbank, and two 2 hours later the police found her body. The police frantically tried to find all possible sex offenders in the area, but they all came up clean, so they found no leads.

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Out of the countless systems that America has, the criminal justice system has the most complication. Many judges, lawyers, and even prisoners have views on how to improve the criminal justice system but, to be able to pin point the problems of the criminal justice system you must discern what the causes are. Most would say that the problem with the prison system is the overcrowding. A few says the sentencing causes chaos in the criminal justice system. I believe that one or the main problem with the criminal justice system is the sentencing.

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Destiny Johnson LSTD 502 Criminal Law January 10, 2016 A. Research Paper Topic: Wrongful Convictions B. Law abiding citizens should not be wrongfully convicted of a crime that they did not commit. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) was first used to aid a criminal investigation by Professor Jeffreys in 1986 for rapes/murders that occurred in the United Kingdom. The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Prior to DNA testing there were hundreds of wrongful convictions.

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What are the causes of wrongful convictions? Criminal law examines why there are many wrongful convictions and the causes to them. Theories has shown that wrongful convictions have revealed disturbing fissures and trends in the criminal justice system. Other theories indicates that an overlapping array of contributing factors has emerged; from mistakes to misconduct to factors of race and class.

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Eyewitness misinterpretation is the highest contributing factor to wrongful convictions. The majority of the wrongful convictions have been corrected by DNA. Exoneration cases that have involved convictions are based on mistaken identification and/or mistaken or overlooked evidence. While there had been evidence in the book “The Picking Cotton,” of police misconduct/ biased based on race. While prosecutors and law enforcement officials are expected, to be honest, uphold the law, have the best intentions to protect society and act with integrity but the pressure to get the right perpetrator my lead police to act inappropriate, unfair or in an unlawful manner, government misconduct can include withholding or fabricating evidence, suggestive ways

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