Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Causes Of Wrongful Conviction
Causes Of Wrongful Conviction
Causes Of Wrongful Conviction
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Causes Of Wrongful Conviction
Causes Of Wrongful Conviction
Causes Of Wrongful Conviction
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Alan Crotzer—DNA Exoneration In the United States, there have been a total of 321 DNA exonerations to date, with twenty of these exonerees having served time on death row (“The Innocence Project,” n.d.). Alan Crotzer was not one of these twenty, however he was sentenced to 130 years in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit. Charged and convicted of sexual battery, kidnapping, burglary, aggravated assault, robbery, and attempted robbery, it wasn’t until 24.5 years later, on January 23, 2006, that Crotzer was released from prison after post-conviction DNA testing proved his innocence (“The Innocence Project,” n.d.).
Research provided by the Innocence Project shows that Hundreds of people are accused of crimes they have never committed just because of eyewitness testimony and factors which distorted memory. Can we even trust our memory after knowing so many innocent people have been convicted? Coming back to the question: How does crime affect memory? Looking at the studies of Ronald Cotton and Bennett Barbour, they tell us that crime distorts the memory of a victim. In both cases, the victim identified the wrong person as their assailant.
Convicted felons should have the right to collect their reward for winning the lottery. Today, felons already face a myriad of sanctions on account of their criminal history. For instance, felons may lose voting right, the right to bear arms, and limited employment opportunities. Moreover, thwarting felons from the chance of winning a lottery ticket is an unnecessary infringement on one’s civil rights. In the end, if an individual has enough money to purchase a lottery ticket he or she should be able to receive their prize.
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
In the article “2 Men Awarded $750,000 for Wrongful Convictions in 1983 Murder” was about two half brothers who were wrongly convicted for a crime they didn’t commit. The men have been awarded with $50,000 a year, up to $750,000 for each of the men. Even though it may seem like a lot at first after attorney’s fees, the cost of living, and family members it’s not a lot. After 31 years in prison, their compensation would be more than double that amount, if they had not been in prison. The men had been convicted for the rape and murder of an 11 year old in 1983, even though there was physical evidence that either of them had been involved.
Wrongful convictions are a problem that most government officials won’t admit. The United States and other countries such as Australia have been susceptible to these miscarriages of justice. This can arise from a snowball effect of scenarios such as witness misidentification, perjured testimonies, coercive methods of interrogation, prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective counsel. These are some of the reasons that can potentially lead innocent people to be convicted of crimes they did not commit. The thousands of exonerations in the United States has caused concern for other nations to reevaluate their criminal justice system.
Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong In Brandon L. Garrett 's book, Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, he makes it very clear how wrongful convictions occur and how these people have spent many years in prison for crimes they never committed. Garrett presents 250 cases of innocent people who were convicted wrongfully because the prosecutors opposed testing the DNA of those convicted. Garrett provided simple statistics such as graphs, percentages, and charts to help the reader understand just how great of an impact this was.
Avery fought several times for an appeal, but each time was denied. Fortunately for Avery, a petition for DNA testing was granted in 1995 and showed that scrapings taken of Beernsten’s fingernails contained the DNA of an unknown person. The tests were unable to eliminate Avery, however, and a movement for a new trial was denied. In April of 2002, attorneys for the Wisconsin Innocence Project obtained a court order for DNA testing of 13 hairs recovered from Beernsten at the time of the crime. The state crime laboratory reported that, using the FBI DNA database, it had linked a hair to Gregory Allen, a convicted felon who bore a striking resemblance to Avery.
The Supreme Court recently began hearing oral arguments in a case, where two men were convicted of bribery by a jury. However, that conviction was overturned by an appeal because the jury had been improperly instructed as to what constitutes a guilty verdict. The attorney for the defense, Lisa Blatt said, “The government should bear the consequences when overlapping charges produce split verdicts of acquittals and invalid convictions.” This quote identifies with one of the fundamental principles of the American legal system, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. While Blatt continues to argue that the vacated conviction is worthless.
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,
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.
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.
The Innocence Project The Innocence Project referred by many as “freedom fighters” is an organization known for its mission to free and help many innocent individuals who remain incarcerated for wrongful convictions. Factors including false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, and flawed technology for forensic testing are some components that contributed to wrongful imprisonments in the past. However, through the use of DNA testing the Innocence Project has brought reform to the criminal justice system and effectiveness. “To date, 351 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 20 who served time on death row” (qtd. Innocence project).
We tend to mistake or confuse people in our daily lives, if one witnesses a crime are they most likely to remember what happened and recognize who did it? Memory can be easily deceived and we can create false memories. In psychology, there are numerous studies that focus on memory and on how accurately someone is able to recall a crime and the perpetrator. For instance, Elizabeth Loftus (1974) comes in mind when we talk about eyewitness testimonies and how the leading questions influence what we remember about an incident. Sometimes misinformation that is given to us can alter what we recall from the incident.
The basis of criminal defense and prosecution is often formed by eyewitness testimonies. If these testimonies are inaccurate it could lead to a wrongly formed criminal defense and prosecution. According to Loftus, “It is clearly of concern to the law, to police and insurance investigators, and to others to know something about the completeness, accuracy, and malleability of such memories. " It is important to study the memory of an eyewitness because for the defense, prosecution, police, insurance investigators, and people involved in the crime or accident it is crucial to have accurate and reliable information.