Kalief Browder: Wrongful Conviction Report

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“Cherish your freedom, don’t take it for granted, and enjoy every day you’ve got,” Rafael Madrigal, an exoneree who spent nine years in prison for an attempted murder he did not commit, once said upon his release. Although Madrigal did not express public hatred or anger after being released from prison, the time taken from his life still haunts him nine years later. Madrigal’s case further justifies the argument that wrongful conviction can happen to anyone, and affect anyone’s life. With the belief that our law system is so perfect and structured, it is sometimes hard to believe cases such as Madrigal’s. By irrational standards, we have been taught that our law system here in …show more content…

Kalief Browder was a sixteen year old boy who was wrongfully accused of stealing a backpack. He spent three years in solitary confinement on Rikers Island before committing suicide in 2015. Kalief’s story truly upset me, and I wanted to learn why this had happened, and what I could possibly do to ensure this never happens again in the future. My first interests within wrongful conviction were racial bias, reform, and reparation. Questions formed in my mind such as: Why is there not better training towards prosecutors? How common are wrongful convictions? What is being done to combat this grievance? How are exonerees given the resources, if any, to restart their lives? And more specifically, what type of apology, if any, is made? I found it sickening that our law system is not doing anything substantial to shut down this issue. Therefore, I decided to pick wrongful conviction as my topic, and began my research. I read many articles, magazines, and a book about wrongful conviction. Also, I interviewed Colin Bowen, a criminal defense attorney in Oakland, California, and Rhonda Donato, a former attorney for the Innocence Project in Northern California. Despite a few nuances, such as Donato having to postpone our interview, both characters had much to say and much information about wrongful conviction. Through this project, I hope to share with the class the heartbreaking truth behind wrongful convictions, and inspire them to help make a difference. Wrongful convictions are brought about by many many different flaws in our criminal justice system, primarily erroneous eyewitness testimony, and racial stereotyping and systemic bias in the law enforcement

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