Anonymity for defendants
Unfortunately today, the identities of those on trial are not hidden. If someone glanced in a newspaper they would be able to find the names of many people who are trying to prove their innocence. While this may be reassuring for the people who want to know who to avoid on the street corners it is not exactly a fair system. You are likely to find all defendants deepest darkest secrets in the media. It somehow does not seem prudent that people are crucified due to their identities being released before being found guilty. Recently Michael Le Vell from Coronation Street was charged with rape, sexual activity with a child, indecent assault and causing a child to engage in sexual acts. It took less than five hours for the jury to come to the verdict that Le Vell was infact not guilty of anything so he walked free. Obviously in the ideal world that would be the end of it but it is almost guaranteed people will not and cannot forget. You would not have even known the actor's name before but, Michael Le Vell, though proven innocent will be reminded and haunted by the accusations for the rest of his life. That is not exactly reassuring.
Just how ferocious the media can be is not a well kept secret and the identities of defendants shouldn't be released to shield them from this. Everyone has heard of being prosecuted by the press. Often it appears as if as soon as a journalist gets a name of a defendant any moral restrictions are lifted. Their private lifes will be splashed across the front of newspapers. Things that only their closest friends should know will be dug up and published for the world to see. The more more irrelevant the better. It doesn't matter appear to matter how many times people are told that t...
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...are falsely accused being attacked and assaulted. Pensioner James Robson has his head jumped up and down on by Garry Munro. Munro had been incorrectly informed that Robson was a paedophile. Robson was described as 'barely alive' when found. Identities must be hidden in order to protect peoples safety.
Identities being released can lead to prosecution by the media and inequalities in trials. People may be led to feeling exceptionally pressured and frightened as well as having a major impact on the rest of their lifed. Releasing identities could additionally compromise the safety of defendant's. A new law needs to be introduced to guarentee that anonymity is granted to all thosewho are on trial. if those accused of crimes are not allowed to keep their identities hidden then there are going to be many more innocent people put through unnecessary amounts of pain.
The psychological abuse that the four suspects were exposed to made them make a wrong confession. In addition, being in an environment where the interrogation room is tight and dark increased the suspect’s anxiety. Moreover, the Frontline documentary stated that the suspects were held in custody for long hours with Robert Ford who used threatening language in order to make them confess. Not only that the suspects made a false confession, but they also told Ford different stories on how they murdered the victim. The coercive interrogatories, led Joe Dick to accept the label Ford put on him and the others. Although Ford was supposed to act just, he acted upon his self interest. Thus, he denied all facts because of fear of embarrassment of being wrong. However, after serving many years in prison, the four suspects were released to face stigmatization and labeling from the society. Indeed, this case proved that there is a malfunction in the justice system and that there’s a need for an immediate
The more notorious the case, the greater the number of prospective informant. They rush to testify like vultures to rotting flesh or sharks to blood. The are smooth and convincing liars(George Carlin, p.1).” Jailhouse informants are a major factor to convicting innocent people. Using informants makes an unjust and unfair trial. The Thomas Sophonow case used jailhouse informants to convict Sophonow of a crime he did not commit. Thomas was convicted of murdering Barbara Stoppel at the Ideal Donut Shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thomas has a highly suspect and was brought to jail. Three informants claimed that Thomas has confessed to them that he had murdered Barbara. All three informants lied on the stands. Mr. McQuade who was one of the informants testified under duress. Two police officers had told him that if he did not testify against Thomas voluntarily, the Crown was going to exposed him of being an informant. Another informant was Mr. Cheng who was charged with 26 counts of fraud. He hoped if he testified against Thomas his charges were to be dropped and luckily for him they were. The last informant was Mr. Martin who was described as “a prime example of convincing mendacity of jailhouse informants. He seems to have heard more confessions than many dedicated priest(Sarah Harland-Logan, p.1).” There were other 11 informants who were eager to give false testimony
``In criminal law, confession evidence is a prosecutor’s most potent weapon’’ (Kassin, 1997)—“the ‘queen of proofs’ in the law” (Brooks, 2000). Regardless of when in the legal process they occur, statements of confession often provide the most incriminating form of evidence and have been shown to significantly increase the rate of conviction. Legal scholars even argue that a defendant’s confession may be the sole piece of evidence considered during a trial and often guides jurors’ perception of the case (McCormick, 1972). The admission of a false confession can be the deciding point between a suspect’s freedom and their death sentence. To this end, research and analysis of the false confessions-filled Norfolk Four case reveals the drastic and controversial measures that the prosecuting team will take to provoke a confession, be it true or false.
In America we believe in the saying “you are innocent until proven guilty” but we the people are remarkably swift to point our fingers at someone we believe that committed the crime. This habit is frequently displayed within our criminal justice system when a crime is committed we quickly assume it has something to do with the first person we can link the crime to. We tend to naturally feel sympathy for the victim therefore; if the individual accuses one for a crime the jury has no reason not to believe the victim. Society does not bother to care if the individual did not do the crime because as long as someone was caught and accused of the wrongdoing, then we the people can proceed on with our lives knowing we punished someone for the crime
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
With the help from F. Lee Bailey, who spent five years appealing the verdict; all the way to the Supreme Court, released Sheppard from prison granting retrial for inherently prejudicial publicity (Rompalske 20). Although Sheppard was found not guilty in 1966, his life had been des...
Debated as one of the most misrepresented cases in American legal history, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald still fights for innocence. Contrary to infallible evidence, prosecution intentionally withheld crucial information aiding MacDonald’s alibi. Such ratification included proof of an outside attack that would have played a major role in Jeffrey’s case.
proven guilty anyway. It would be easier to let them out of prison than when they are already
Paul Harris, Colin Fernandez and Rebecca Camber. (2009). Nursery monster Vanessa George to enjoy life of anonymity at taxpayers' expense as furious parents call for her 'to be skinned and rolled in salt’.Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217415/Nursery-worker-Vanessa-George-internet-accomplices-plead-guilty-sexually-assaulting-young-children.html. Last accessed 4th December 2009.
Because my case is still pending, I choose not to explicitly describe its specific details so that the eventual prosecution of the perpetrators is not jeopardized in any way.
In 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged ten at the time, abused and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. There was media uproar about the case with the two boys being described as ‘evil’, ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ in the media (Franklin & Horwath 1998). There were many references to evil in the newspapers; with the telegraph stating that Thompson’s nickname was ‘Damien’ (from The Omen) and declaring that Venables birth date was Friday the 13th. The majority of society was united in the belief that these two boys were the epitome of evil and it was the media that nurtured this belief. ‘Newspaper reports were unequivocal in their denunciations of Thompson and Venables as inherently evil, prompted perhaps initially by Justice Morland’s description of the murder as an act of unparalleled ev...
On August 20th, 1989 Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents inside their Beverly Hills home with fifteen shot gun blasts after years of alleged “sexual, psychological, and corporal abuse” (Berns 25). According to the author of “Murder as Therapy”, “The defense has done a marvelous job of assisting the brothers in playing up their victim roles” (Goldman 1). Because there was so much evidence piled up against the brothers, the defense team was forced to play to the jurors’ emotions if they wanted a chance at an acquittal. Prosecutor Pamela Bozanich was forced to concede that “Jose and Kitty obviously had terrific flaws-most people do in the course of reminding jurors that the case was about murder, not child abuse” (Adler 103). Bozanich “cast the details of abuse as cool, calculated lies” (Smolowe 48)...
In keeping within current legislation on the protection and respect of an individuals’ right of anonymity, (Clamp, Gough and Land 2004; Polit and Beck 2007), and to confidentiality, (Burns and G...
Since these articles were written, Sarah Payne has been found murdered close to where she lived. The kidnapper is still at large and the search for him has commenced. Tougher legislation on paedophiles has been discussed as riots broke out. However, nothing affective