Mr. Duane also commented that police make mistakes, innocently, inadvertently or unintentionally with any statements they presented to the convicted, which is kind of linked up to his second and fifth reason, that there are no benefices in return to admit guilty even if that person is guilty or innocent. Police are human, if they can get any important information, whether the information is extensive or it is just a slip of the tongue, that significant detail can convict a person. Likewise, the police are willing to lie or they might just have faulty recollection of what actually happen when presenting a statement, nonetheless that is a way they could “crucify” the convicted. I believe the police are present to secure/guard the people and their
``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 fact, the minute they bring someone in on reasonable suspicion, there is an 80% chances of the suspect being the guilty party. Therefore, beyond reasonable doubt a blurred line is established. Detectives have evidence to bring in the suspect, getting them to confess becomes the mission of the case. Whether or not they are innocent or guilty doesn’t matter, for chances are their suspect is in fact guilty. And the faster they book someone, the better their arrest record gets, and the further they can advance their career. If it means overlook some information and just aim to get the confession, to pull an arrest, it will
One of the first things we need to look at is, what is the due process model? It is a model in which there is the assumption that every effort needs to be done to ensure that an innocent person is not convicted of a crime. It adheres to the belief of strict evidence, which means to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the person actually committed the crime, and the charge meets all of the requirements of the crime. The state in this model is burdened with showing evidence that the person has committed the crime, and the defense has the opportunity to show the evidence in inconclusive. Due to the strict guidelines of admissibility of evidence, and the right’s awarded to presumed innocent people, there end up being many guilty people that get off on a technicality, that should be incarcerated.
Depending on what study is read, the incidence of false confession is less than 35 per year, up to 600 per year. That is a significant variance in range, but no matter how it is evaluated or what numbers are calculated, the fact remains that false confessions are a reality. Why would an innocent person confess to a crime that she did not commit? Are personal factors, such as age, education, and mental state, the primary reason for a suspect to confess? Are law enforcement officers and their interrogation techniques to blame for eliciting false confessions? Regardless of the stimuli that lead to false confessions, society and the justice system need to find a solution to prevent the subsequent aftermath.
False confessions have always played a big part when it comes to flaws within the justice system. So many people are constantly found guilty, when in reality, they have done nothing wrong and are completely innocent. But a simple question remains. Why confess to a crime if you did not commit it? Many blame the Reid Technique. A technique used to question people who are thought to be guilty. But in fact the Reid Technique has been used for over 50 years, so if it does not work why are we using it? The Reid Technique is an ineffective way of interrogation if it is not done properly and the person conducting the interrogation does not oblige the strict steps.
In criminal law the principle, presumed innocent until proven guilty is sometimes twisted and altered to presumed guilty until proven innocent in many wrongful conviction cases. Many factors go into the deliberation and reasoning behind an investigators, juries and courts verdict and occasionally their decision is actually wrong and an innocent person is locked up behind bars, to serve a sentence that they do not deserve because they are not a criminal. False confessions from an innocent suspect is very common in the interrogation room and by it is their own fault because they admit to being a part a crime they truthfully were not part of due to misleading questions or statements by the investigators. Another factor that could place an innocent person in prison is wrong scientific discoveries and false DNA evidence. Doctors sometimes misinterpret injuries and causes of death and this can really alter a case's outcome significantly. Finally, witnesses may report false sightings, or report something that they thought they heard but misinterpreted it entirely. More laws should be put into place to protect the innocent suspects, and to insure that nobody goes to prison that really does not deserve it and more citizens should be trained to accurately give a description of a suspect to decrease the wrongful conviction rate.
A Critical Assessment In defining police ethics, ethical policing and police ethics are not synonymous or interchangeable connotations to or for one another. Aside from establishing a police role independently from establishing any definition of ethics or police ethics, the semantics tend to complicate the defining process. Some of these complications include, but are not limited to, sociological aspects, psychological conditions, or philosophical reasoning. Examples of sociological complications include historical, political, cultural, or economic aspects. Some psychological examples include one’s ability to discern sociological implications from other implications; namely, the condition of post-traumatic stress disorder, hydrophobia, or even weary dreams. Lastly,
When people hear the word “Cop” what do people generally think? We believe that cops are here in this world to keep the peace in order, protect, serve, prevent and stop crime. We’ve seen all the stuff that shows the cops are the good guys in the news, reality TV shows, and at school presentations. Ever since the advanced technologies and the internet came to our time, we have seen a lot of cops showing their true colors to the world. Now we sometimes think differently and have second thoughts about them. People on social media sites like YouTube put up those videos of cops who are caught on tape in the act of wrongdoings. Those videos show a lot of cops who aren’t doing their job right. Some cops arrest people without saying the Miranda rights. Some just barge right into peoples’ home without a consent form. Some even take things too far like beating up people when they’re clearly showing that they surrendered. If I have the power to change one thing in this world then it will be getting rid of these bad cops.
Police corruption and misconduct come apparent in many different forms. A basic definition for police corruption is, when an officer gets involved in offenses where the officer uses his or her position, by act or omission, to obtain improper financial benefit. The main reason for such corruption is typically for personal gain, such as bribery. Police abuse of authority occurs in three different general areas such as physical abuse, psychological abuse, and legal abuse. Physical abuse is such abuse where one uses excessive force or physical harassment. The psychological abuse occurs through disrespect, harassment, ridicule, excessive stops, or intimidation. Finally, legal abuse is abuse that occurs during unlawful search and seizure or manufacturing evidence (Pollock, 2012). One source describes police corruption in eight different ways. They include: corruption of authority, kickbacks, opportunistic theft, shakedowns, protection of illegal acts, the fix, direct criminal acts, and internal payoffs (Roebuck & Barker, 1974).
Police, courts, and corrections are separated government institutions with different goals, histories, and operating procedures. Law enforcement officials report crimes that happen in their area. Officers investigate crimes and gather evidence to identify and use against a presumed perpetrator. Thus, it is the duty of the officer to uphold the rights of offenders, victims, and to conduct police procedures within rules set by law. Depending on the nature of the crime and the evidence gathered it is up to the police discretion to make an arrest or issue a citation for the accused to appear in court. The law enforcement has responsibilities that no other component does, thus an officer does not decide the defendant’s conviction; the jury does (Neubauer and Fradella,
Policing relies on the public trust, police legitimacy and accountability, which can be destroyed by unjustifiable police shootings (Squires and Kennninson, 2010). Within this country, there is a recognition that the police do not always adhere to the rule of law (Newburn and Reiner, 2012: 809), which has led to consistent public outrage at the lack of effectiveness and legitimacy the police has maintained. Therefore the deliberate decision to enforce police to attend to the streets unarmed was employed to reassure the public that the police were not to be feared (Waddington and Wright, 2010). Ultimately, concerns derive from the belief that the police are completely ineffective when dealing with gun crimes (Farrell, 1992: 20). However, whilst arming police with guns can act as a protector when on duty it can also cause an increase in police misconduct. This issue will be discussed throughout this essay.
In order to have effective policing I believe integrity and ethics play a huge part in helping build trust within communities. Sound conduct by police improves community interactions, enhances communication, and promotes shared responsibility for addressing crime and disorder. There are three ways that police departments can strengthen community relationships just by training officers about procedural justice, bias reduction, and racial reconciliation. If we implement these concepts, we can create an environment in which effective partnerships between the police and citizens can flourish.
Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to by society. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police officers are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others because of their career title. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments throughout our country. Police officials are abusing their power and authority through three types of misconduct known as malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance and these types are being overlooked by management personnel who rarely intervene even though they know what is happening. Misconduct is wrong because it violates rights and causes people to be wrongly accused of crimes or be found not guilty and set free when they are still an endangerment to other people. The public needs to be educated on what is happening in the police system in hopes that someone will speak out to protect citizens from being violated by police officers.
In our times, the police have become the criminals. Some police are using their power to do bad things, and society has come to fear police. The law enforcement system needs change. The courts have failed the police, and the police have turn to other means of justice. We must stop the corruption in the police force.
Police Misconduct is a topic that through the years of policing have been creating arguments and divisions between the communities and police departments. Since the beginning of policing it is well-known that different reforms had been put in place to prevent police misconduct from happening, but unfortunately misconduct is still prevalent in police organizations. After watching the movie Fort Apache the Bronx and doing some research about police misconduct it is palpable that the police subculture is the main factor enhancing that many officers engage in this terrible behavior. That is why changing the nature of police management and police subculture is a splendid strategy to prevent police misconduct from happening. Police misconduct has