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Wrongful conviction introduction
Essay on injustice and wrongful convictions
Wrongful convictions throughout history
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This paper depicts how a sequence of injustices led to the wrongful conviction of a Trinidadian immigrant living in the Brooklyn Crown Heights neighborhood. No motive, no murder weapon, no forensic evidence, a questionable autopsy report, coerced witness testimonies, and a lying witness resulted in Colin Warner spending 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. It was the year of 1982 when Colin Warner was convicted for the murder of 16 year old Mario Hamilton. Martell Hamilton, the victim’s brother, and Thomas Charlemagne, 14 year old Haitian immigrant, were picked up by investigators shortly after Hamilton’s murder. Thomas Charlemagne would soon become the investigator’s star witness for this case. After hours of interrogation and
In today’s Canadian society, it is certain that criminal law is to serve and protect and its fundamental purpose is to prevent crime and punish offenders. However, there have been cases where criminal law has punished the offender who turned out to be innocent. A conviction is needed to show that the system is not in disrepute and to keep order and people safe in society. If a criminal cannot be caught then people will look down upon the system in disgrace. In many cases, officers will arrest an individual who fits a certain description that they know will lead to an arrest and conviction. In the case of Guy Paul Morin it shows how the system failed in aiding the innocent who abide to the law. The law is established to protect those who are innocent from being targeted because of the law.
In Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice, Shaun Gabbidon explores the histories of Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa and their difficulties involving race, ethnicity, crime, and colonization. Gabbidon uses Tatum’s colonial model to explain the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in these five selected countries and concludes that the colonial model suffices as the best criminological theory to understand the development of racial and criminal issues in these countries. Gabbidon then attributes minority oppression and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system to the colonial model and colonization in each of these countries. Gabbidon concludes that colonization had far-reaching effects on each
On April 19th, 1989, Trisha Meili was the victim of violent assault, rape, and sodomy. The vicious attack left her in a coma for 12 days and The New York Times described it as “one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980’s.” The documentary, The Central Park Five, reveals the truth about what happened the night of April 19th, and how the subordinate group of young black boys were wrongly convicted. Analyzing the conflict theory of crime in association to the case of the central park five, understanding the way they were treated based on setting, why it was so easy for the law enforcement to pin the crime on the young black boys, and how wrongly convicting someone has great consequences along with relating it
Wrongful conviction is an issue that has plagued the Canadian Justice System since it came to be. It is an issue that is hard to sort out between horrific crimes and society’s desire to find truth and justice. Incidences of wrongful conviction hit close to home right here in Saskatchewan as well as across the entire nation. Experts claim “each miscarriage of justice, however, deals a blow to society’s confidence in the legal justice system” (Schmalleger, Volk, 2014, 131). Professionals in the criminal justice field such as police, forensic analyst, and prosecutors must all be held accountable for their implications in wrongful convictions. There are several reasons for wrongful convictions such as racial bias, false confessions, jailhouse informants, eyewitness error, erroneous forensic science, inappropriate, professional and institutional misconduct and scientific limitations that society possessed prior to the technological revolution (Roberts, Grossman, 2012, 253 – 259). The introduction of more advanced DNA analysis has been able to clear names and prevent these incidences from occurring as often. As well as the formation of foundations such as The Association of Defense for the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). Unfortunately, mistakes made in the Canadian Justice System have serious life altering repercussions for everyone that is involved. Both systematic and personal issues arise that require deeper and more intense analysis.
Throughout history arguments and debate have been used to decide the fate of kingdoms, challenge a ruler’s authority or even decided where homes would be built. Without arguments our world would be bland and nothing like it is today. Being able to form a well built argument and use it properly is known as rhetoric. Ancient Romans and Greeks considered rhetoric to be one of the most important skills for students. Even today rhetoric is considered a great feat for all scholars. Two great men who were able to use rhetoric and excel at using it were Cicero and Machiavelli. They both argued in some of their most famous works that at times injustice was defendable. Cicero did this in his piece called The Defense of Injustice. Machiavelli did this in his work called The Prince. Each of these men was from completely different times in history, yet both were able to use rhetoric to help make people support their argument. Although rhetoric has many rules and many different formats one of the most well know and organized format is known as the Toulmin method. With the two pieces of work and using Toulmin’s method of rhetoric we can evaluate and discover who makes the best argument and why.
Rios, Victor M. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. New York: New York
In this documentary, we never go into the minds of any of the people, but only get to interpret what we see and hear. This documentary was filmed in Jacksonville, Florida where Brenton Butler, a 15 year old African American boy was accused of the murder of Mary Ann Stephens. The main people in this documentary are Ann Fennell, Patrick McGuiness, Brenton Butler, and detectives Williams, Glover, and Darnell. Ann Fennell and Patrick McGuisness are the two defense attorney’s on Brenton’s behalf. Brenton Butler is the boy being accused of murder. Detectives Williams, Glover, and Darnell are the detectives in department 3 the violated many laws and policies while holing Brenton in
**Lynch, Michael J. and Patterson, Britt, Race and Criminal Justice (New York: Harrow and Heinstien, 1991)
were not previously seen, such as hostile or mistrustful attitude towards the world, social withdrawal, feelings of emptiness or hopelessness, a chronic feeling of threat, and estrangement.” Although psychological issues develop in anyone incarcerated, those discussed are particular from the perspective of a victim wrongfully accused.
Turner, Billy. 1986. “Race and Peremptory Challenges During Voir Dire: Do Prosecution and Defense Agree?” Journal of Criminal Justice 14: 61-69.
Locallo describes the Bridgeport case as being a “heater case”, not only because of the social impact that it will create in the community, but also because of all the media attention it will receive which will influence his possible reelection once his term is over (Courtroom 302, 31). When Frank Caruso Jr. decided that he was going to beat Lenard Clark, an African American boy he created the spark that society needed to get back at the Caruso family for all of the crimes that they got away with in the past. During the past several decades, society has tried to make the Caruso family take responsibility for their crimes, but all those efforts just strengthened the family ties and political positions.
And, few cases can be granted parole based on the crime committed. We need to set examples as kids are our future. There has to be a difference in the
Throughout human existence, there has always been a struggle between the idealistic views and the realistic views of justice. The idealistic person believes that everyone deserves justice; however, there have been times when people have been wrongfully convicted for a crime and spent years in prison. In the movie, The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne understands the corruption of the justice system in Gotham City and creates a vigilante persona to bring justice to Gotham City. The Joker, the realist, realizes that Gotham City cannot be saved because he believes that the true nature of human beings is selfishness. In The Republic, Plato argues that power should be used to govern in the best interests of the entire community. Thrasymachus the realist, however, argued that success can be achieved by caring for the citizenry so that they can provide material wealth and power for the leader or leaders. Batman is the idealist because, by becoming a vigilante, he is considering the community’s best interests which are consistent to Plato’s philosophy (The Dark Knight). Batman believes that justice should be used to protect the weak from the manipulative. Joker is the realist because, by being a villain, he places his everyone else’s interests over others and considers them as the best for himself, which is consistent with Thrasymachus’ viewpoint (The Dark Knight). In this paper, I will discuss the similarities and differences between idealistic views of the Dark Knight and Plato and the realistic views of the Joker and Thrasymachus.
Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2000. 167-186. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secon Ogawa, Brian K. Color of Justice: Culturally Sensitive Treatment of Minority Crime Victims. Allen and Bacon: Needham Heights, MA, 1999. Saleh Hanna, Viviane.
Injustice is present in Cry, the Beloved Country, the Moment Before the Gun Went off, “Invictus,” and also in The Life of Nelson Mandela. Throughout these pieces of literature we can see a picture of life in Africa. There has not always been a racial balance in Africa, and the continent has had many unfair civil injustices, including apartheid. Apartheid is a former policy of racial segregation in the republic of South Africa (Webster’s 53). The Immorality Act (1950-1985) was one of the first Apartheid laws in South Africa. This law was an attempt to forbid all sexual relations between whites and non-whites. Apartheid and racial disparity are both forms of social injustice. While disparity is the condition or fact of being unequal in age, rank or degree, injustice is the violation of another’s rights or of what is right (Webster’s 334; 585).