The film After Innocence, was a compelling documentary after watching it. It “tells the dramatic and compelling story of the exonerated - innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA evidence proved their innocence. The film focuses on the gripping story of seven men and their emotional journey back into society and efforts to rebuild their lives. Included are a police officer, an army sergeant and a young father sent to prison and even death row for decades for crimes they did not commit” (After Innocence, About the Film, Para 1). These men had to endure agony and suffering from being remove from society. By the criminal justice system locking these men away they suffer from emotional and psychological trauma. …show more content…
This is surprising because the legal system in the United States is “innocent before guilty”. If an innocent man is found guilty then I believe the court should provide their resources to that individual. For example, the United States main form of government is democracy but when the court system makes a fatal error they are not responsible for their own mistakes. Additionally, in the film After Innocence, they focus on questions that ask about human rights and society moral …show more content…
In the film After Innocence, I learn that even during the most difficult time individuals can become great friends, despite serious circumstances that is to me the principle of morale. In 1984, Jennifer Thompson-Canino was raped by an unknown figure, but later identified Ronald Cotton as her attack. This cause Cotton to be in prison for 11 years. “In June 1995 Ronald proved his innocence through the use of DNA evidence and was exonerated, release from prison and officially pardoned that July. Since the exoneration, Ronald and Jennifer have forged a unique friendship and speak together publicly about the dangers and errors of eyewitness identification” (After Innocence, The Innocent, Ronald Cotton). Jennifer in the film After Innocence, speaks to schools who will hear your story and try to warns to be careful with their decisions. She also tells the students that they can make their own paths in life and change the world in their own special ways. Cotton has established a true friendship with Jennifer that cannot be measure in words, this is truly an aspiring
The aspect of wrongful conviction is established within law to protect the innocent from being abused by the law. Nevertheless, the real issue of concern is the fact of whether wrongful conviction actually helps those who cannot help themselves. With that said, another important underlying factor is whether the criminal justice system has restrictions set up to help those from being innocently convicted and those who have been convicted and later was found to be innocent. By looking at the case of Guy Paul Morin, one will see how the police, courts, and criminal justice system failed in aiding the innocent and bringing justice in society, as well as showing that the system has failed in helping its people, and what must be done to aid those who have been wrongfully convicted.
If that does not occur to the reader as an issue than factoring in the main problem of the topic where innocent people die because of false accusation will. In addition, this book review will include a brief review of the qualifications of the authors, overview of the subject and the quality of the book, and as well as my own personal thoughts on the book. In the novel Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right authors Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer expose the flaws of the criminal justice system through case histories where innocent men were put behind bars and even on death row because of the miscarriages of justice. Initially, the text promotes and galvanizes progressive change in the legal
Throughout the entire film, viewers can witness how Steven Avery is being poorly treated because of his socioeconomic status, and the fact that he is different from everyone in the Manitowoc County. Steven was lied on, picked on, and accused of committing a crime he did not commit, all because he was looked down upon and viewed as being less of a person than everyone else in the community. Watching this episode invokes an emotion that is prevalent today with our justice system. Many minorities are falsely accused and falsely imprisoned due to personal vendettas from private citizens or members of the law enforcement. Others are disfranchised due to their socioeconomic status. Ultimately, there are numerous innocent men and women serving life sentences and are on death row for crimes they did not commit. As an illustration, in the year of 2007, Davontae Sanford, who was just 14 years old at the time, was wrongfully convicted of murdering four people and sentenced 90 years in prison. Sandford was an individual a part of the lower social class, coming from a rough part of Detroit, he was a victim of poverty. He stated how he was such a naïve kid and was coerced by detectives and his defense attorney to confess and plead guilty to murders he did not commit. Sanford told how his attorney commented, “you’re a black kid from the ghetto; these white people from the suburbs are gonna come in here and they’re gonna find you guilty.” He was exonerated June of 2016 after the real offender came forward and denied Sanford’s involvement in the murder. What is exposed as this bigger picture is how the criminal justice system is corrupted, being prejudice and stereotyping individuals based on their socioeconomic status is how the system seems to incarcerate people and sad to say,
Around 20 years ago from our frame in time, from within the town of Robin Hills was an event of tragedy involving gruesome deaths of children. No matter the point in time the importance of the event that transpired has never changed. The film is based on the murders titled, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hills, focuses on the lives of the families before, during and after trials. Not only does it focuses on the deaths of the children, the film focusses on an internal theme that explores the riddle; “Is justice still served when given or taken from the undeserved?” Whether the accused teenagers are proven innocent or proven guilty that is what the directors were on the prowl for. Berlinger and Sinofsky documented every aspect they could to convey an honest and unbiased judgement into the trial. The methods the directors used is connected with how the audience will possibly judge the trial. Possibly meaning that the directors, no matter how hard they tried to be unbiased, grew emotionally attached and actually agreed at some point that the teenagers who committed the murders were actually either innocent or guilty. By the ways the filmmakers edited their film, on certain scenes suggest they had their opinions. As they
One of the Cons of the death penalty is that someone who is innocent may be put to death. According to The Death Penalty Fact Sheet “ Since 1973, more than 150 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence”. The number of inmates on death row on April 1, 2015 was 3,002. There could be many more people who are on death row now who are truly innocent.
According the film, “For Thomas Jefferson, the new republic must be founded with religious freedom. And that, he believed, was a God-given right.” America at the time was having a struggle with religious freedom, the debates between church and State on what was right or wrong; people had no religious rights to decide their religious choices. Worshipping or preaching was considered a crime and people were put in prison for it. Thomas Jefferson was very familiar with the struggle for religious freedom and would help “define what freedom would mean for America”. The Baptists came from Pennsylvania to Virginia with the whole purpose of spreading the message of the Gospel, convert people and help them find God, they called it “rebirth”. But it was dangerous to convert to a different religion in
The setting of a novel aids in the portrayal of the central theme of the work. Without a specific place and social environment, the characters are just there, with no reason behind any of their actions. The Age of Influence centers around the Old New York society during the 1870’s. Most of the characters are wealthy upper class citizens with a strict code to follow. The protagonist, Newland Archer, lives in a constant state of fear of being excluded from society for his actions. Archer’s character is affected by standard New York conventions as well as the pressure to uphold his place in society, both of which add to Wharton’s theme of dissatisfaction.
For my final essay, I have chosen the movie “Fatal Attraction”, and I will focus on Alex Forrest and her mental disorder. Borderline Personality was displayed in the movie and Alex had almost every symptom of this disorder. Throughout this essay, I will be discussing Alex’s characteristics, intelligence, motivation, stress, social influences and/ or personality theories, treatment, and if the depiction of the disorder and treatment is consistent with what was discussed and read in the course.
In James S. Hirsch’s book about Rubin "Hurricane" Cater, Hurricane, the author describes how Carter was wrongfully imprisoned and how he managed to become free. Hirsch tells about the nearly impossible battle for Carter and his friend John Artis for freedom and justice. Both, Carter and Artis, were convicted of a triple homicide, and both were innocent.
The problem with this is that, once done, there’s no going back. Since the death penalty was reinstated, 144 men and women has been released from death row. That is 144 people who were wrongly convicted of a crime and released, sometimes moments before execution. One study says that 1 out of 25 (4.1 percent) sentenced to death did not commit the crime accounted for. Regarding the 144 men and women previously mentioned, “As a percentage of all death sentences, that 's just 1.6 percent. But if the innocence rate is 4.1 percent, more than twice the rate of exoneration, the study suggests what most people assumed but dreaded: An untold number of innocent people have been executed” (Levy). The study puts into play a number of factors, but the statement still stands. Yet another aspect that affects those on death row, is
The statement "It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" summarises and highlights the mistakes and injustices in the criminal justice system. In a just society, the innocent would never be charged, nor convicted, and the guilty would always be caught and punished. Unfortunately, it seems this would be impossible to achieve due to the society in which we live. Therefore, miscarriages of justice occur in the criminal justice system more frequently than is publicised or known to the public at large. They are routine and would have to be considered as a serious problem in our society. The law is what most people respect and abide by, if society cannot trust the law that governs them, then there will be serious consequences including the possible breakdown of that society. In order to have a fair and just society, miscarriages of justice must not only become exceptional but ideally cease to occur altogether.
The Last Seduction was initially released on HBO cable network on June18, 1994 and in theaters three months later in NYC, and Los Angeles. The Screenwriter for The Last Seduction is Steve Barancik, directed by John Dahl, an ITC Entertainment Group production, and produced by Jonathan Shestack. The star cast Bridget Gregory - Linda Fiorentino, Mike Swale - Peter Berg, Clay Gregory - Bill Pullman, Frank Griffith - J.T. Walsh, and Harlan - Bill Nunn. The Last Seduction is the ultimate Film Noir of the 1990s (also known as Neo-Noir) that garnered rave reviews from critics, there was also much controversy around its release and participation in the Oscars. The leading lady character Bridget Gregory added an up to date twist on the of meaning Femme Fatal. Bridget users her intelligence and sex appeal to bring several of the male characters to their doom.
The worst thing in life is paying for another man's mistake. Sadly, this is something that occurs frequently. After watching a video about the wrongful conviction and the imprisonment of Ronald Cotton, I was baffled. I find it absurd that an innocent person can lose their freedom for a crime that they were not involved in. Ronald Cotton is not the only unfortunate individual who has endured wrongful imprisonment. Bennet Barbour, James Bain, and many others have been convicted of crimes that they did not commit due to faulty eyewitness testimonies.
Loss of Innocence in Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds A rite of passage is defined as a ceremony marking a significant transition or an important event or achievement, both regarded as having great meaning in the lives of individuals. In Sharon Olds' moving poem "Rite of Passage", these definitions are illustrated in the lives of a mother and her seven-year-old son. The seriousness and significance of these events are represented in the author's tone, which undergoes many of its own changes as the poem progresses. From its title, the tone of the poem is already set as serious, and we know there will be a significant event taking place in someone's life. As earlier stated, a rite of passage is an important ceremony or a life-changing event.
In the first scene of the movie Erin is giving a job interview where she has no relevant experience and qualification . Here Erin is motivated by the stage 1 and 3 of Kohlberg’s model of moral development as she is she wants the job to ‘Ethics of Care’ as she is concerned for her kids.