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How wrongful convictions have affected the criminal justice system
The innocence project
Wrongful convictions affecting the criminal justice system
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I am currently doing an internship with the local police department. I was had a broad selection of different areas I could work for under the local police department. I ultimately chose to work under a small Innocence Project. This team is with four other students and defense attorneys in the local area to look at other cases that were found guilty which they have been convicted of a crime they did not do. After looking at many different cases, we chose to look at one case in particular, his name is Willie Johnson. Willie was convicted at 18 years-old for raping a 16-year-old girl after a school dance. He was convicted over 15 years ago. Willie told the court that he was trying to break into the victim’s car to get a CD player that was out in the open, which explains why Willies fingerprints were all over the car door. Willie explained he left because there was a large man who was in a dark area. After …show more content…
This would be the best option and this would be a way that everything would be paid for. If that did not work, I would then claim that the eye witnesses were wrong. It is well known that eye witnesses rarely ever works and is often wrong. The Innocence Project website also states this. To add to that, the victim couldn’t even for sure say that it was Willie who raped her. It was also dark and Willie also stated there was another large man waiting in the shadows that spooked him. I would then demand for the court to pay for the DNA case because there is high chance that my client is innocent. I could never give my money for tuition to pay for the DNA test. I am not supposed to get personally involved with any cases. If I was to do this, it would be highly unprofessional. There are many ways to get the DNA test in alternative ways like listed above. It would then be up to a jury or the judge after hearing all the evidence, but paying for the DNA test myself would be crossing a
A woman was raped at Central Park and was found unconscious. She recovered quickly after the incident but could not recall what happened on that day. On the same day that woman was raped all five teenagers were there but were at the opposite direction of where the rape incident happened. They were brought in by the police to be questioned and were asked about the incident. The police were interrogating the teenagers and yelled at their faces because they were getting frustrated that they were not getting the answers that they wanted to hear from them. The teenagers were getting tired from being questioned for about two days on something they knew nothing about and wanted to just get out of the place. The police told them to say certain things and told them things that they wanted to hear, which led to the teenagers believing that if they said what the police told them to say then they could leave. They ended up confessing to raping the woman on video and paper and that led to their arrest. Though there were no actual evidence proving they were there at the scene, it did not matter because the police just wanted the confessions, which was their goal from the
The Casey Anthony case was one that captured the heart of thousands and made it to the headline of national TV talk shows, newspapers, radio stations and social media networks for months. The root of the case was due to a clash between the parental responsibilities, the expectations that went with being a parent, and the life that Casey Anthony wanted to have. The case was in respect to the discovering the cause of Casey’s two-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony’s, death; however the emphasis was placed on Casey and her futile lies, which resulted in a public outcry. The purpose of this essay is to delve into the public atmosphere and inquire about why the media and social media collectively attacked the case by uncovering the content of the case, the charges that were laid, and later dismissed, the “performers” of the trial and the publics reaction. It will further discuss how it defies universal ideologies and how the media represents this. The discussion of the complexities of the case and its connotations will incorporate Stuart Hall’s Representation and the Media, Robert Hariman’s Performing the Laws, What is Ideology by Terry Eagleton, The Body of the Condemned by Michael Foucault, and a number of news articles, which will reveal disparate ideas of representation in the media, and the role of the performers of the law and their effect on the understanding of the case.
... any of the DNA provided by the Vaninced victim support one report showed a piece of genetic material the penis of Steven branch but could not be linked to any victim.The penis of Steven branch that could not be linked to any victim or any defendant in the meantime our investigators were obtain DNA samples in the air cigarette butts world swabs from people who had some connection to the events is included samples from several people including Steven branches stepfather Terry Hobbs.The result of that analysis in May 2007 show that rope used to tie up Michael Moore could be associated with very hot provided a result the prosecution right after learning of it much more recent analysis by Mr. Fedora show that hair found on a tree root through Tree Stump at the crime scene could be associated with the DNA samples provided by Terry Hobbs.
The case that I have decided to do my criminal justice research paper on is the Trayvon martin case. The Trayvon Martin case is a fairly recent case that took place in Sanford a central Florida city that consisted about 53,000 people. This case involves Trayvon Benjamin Martin an seventeen year old African American boy who was born on February 5 1995. He lived in Miami Gardens, Florida with his mother sybrina Fulton and attended Dr. Michael M. Krop High School (CNN) . Trayvon went to visit with his father Tracey Martin who lived in Sanford, Florida in February of 2012. The reason this young boy was sent to be with his father is because he received a ten day suspension from school. Trayvon got suspended from school for ten days because the school found drug residue in his book bag (CNN). Trayvons parents decided to send him to visit with his dad during his suspension because they didn’t want him to enjoy things in his hometown such as family, friends, and football (CNN). Also, this case involves twenty eight year old George Zimmerman who was the neighborhood watch captain for the community Retreat at Twin Lakes. Zimmerman was also a part time student at Seminole State College. He is married to Shellie zimmerman and the father of two son Robert and Glayds Zimmerman.
1 – Question #1: (Ch 5) Child abuse intersects with the juvenile justice system in many ways including but not limited to - sexual abuse, child neglect, family violence, and internet exploitation. One of the most important issues to address when related to the juvenile justice system is child neglect. Child neglect can be defined as a juvenile under the age of 18 whose parental figure(s) and/or person responsible for the child’s well being not providing essential support, education by law, medical or remedial care necessary for the child’s health – shelter, food/water, clothing, etc. Neglect also comes in three forms 1) physical – e.g. lack of necessary shelter, food or water, medical care 2) emotional – e.g. the lack of emotional support or
InnocenceProject.org, “The Fact Sheet”. Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. 13 July 2011. http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Facts_on_PostConviction_DNA_Exonerations.php.
A copious amount of DNA evidence left at the scene of the crime and at the Simpson residence proves Simpson’s involvement in the murders. Lack of attention to detail resulted in Simpson leaving his own blood along with the blood of both victims in numerous places. Evidence at the scene of the
The enactment of state post-conviction DNA testing statutes has not been uniform. Some state laws include statutes of limitations beyond which petitioners may no longer file claims. Some states appoint counsel, some do not. They still have to determine if the evidence to be tested is material and reliable (whether there has been a documented chain of custody). If the evidence is too small, or degraded, or otherwise fails to comply with the statutory requirements, the petitioner has no recourse. These advancements are taking place because attorneys are fighting for the right of DNA profiling to save the innocent who have been falsely accused.
“The Innocence Project, founded in 1992...exonerates the wrongly convicted” (“About” 1 of 4). In addition to freeing the innocent, the Innocence Project is also trying to reform the Justice System and reduce the number of wrongful convictions. Alongside reforming the Justice System, The Innocence Project is also looking for ways to reduce the number of eyewitness misidentification.
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.
In the world of criminology, we study different criminals and the crimes they commit for many of different reasons. One very popular case we all know of is the Orenthal James Simpson trial also commonly known as the O.J. Simpson trial. He was most known for his fame as a football star. Although, he was no star before he hit college due to poor grades. He started as a young boy eventually getting his grades up to further lead his as a running back on The University of Southern California Football Team. He then went to the NFL playing for the Buffalo Bills and ending his season with San Francisco 49ers in 1979. After retiring, he got into sports commentating, acting, and golfing (ORENTHAL J. SIMPSON). Simpson went through a couple of marriages with children in each. His first marriage with Marguerite L. Whitley they had three children one who died after her second birthday in the swimming pool at their home. Six years later, O.J. marries Nicole Brown Simpson and has children with her (Editors).
Every year, innocent people are given prison sentences to crimes they did not commit. Statistics are kept by the Criminal Justice Department on the number of wrongful convictions but according to research, it has been estimated to 5% of the cases tried have resulted in a false conviction. Reasons due to false convictions are misidentification from a witness, false confessions, forensic mistakes, DNA testing, coercion, and more. A number of ideas will be argued as possible solutions to help lower the number of wrongful convictions that are given the innocent people who fall trapped to this system. A study by Barry Scheck [2008] on forensic evidence revealed that not more than 20% of the felony cases involved biological evidence [Scheck, 2008, p.4]. Although the number seems low, the proper handling and testing of biological evidence can offer some hope to an innocent suspect. Other variables that lead to wrongful convictions are false statements and confessions. Which that can be taken from suspects through questionable actions of methods. [Leo, Ofshe, 1998] or that pooled from jailhouse snitched, informants, or cooperators. Many people believe that the use of evidence has been corrupted in the system while others believe that cases where evidence is used are deviations from the typical process. “Eyewitness misidentifications were a factor in over 70% of wrongful convictions.” The knowledge that a free citizen could be unreasonably sentenced to prison or executed by the State is totally opposed the thought of shrewd treatment likely in the United States. DNA is the leading cause to wrongful convictions. If the problem is to be talked and fixed, it must first be understood; not as it is seen, but as it is. It is difficult to express...
... the crime scenes contain many mixtures of more than one person’s DNA, which can lead to false accusations. Even if there is evidence of a DNA match at the crime scene doesn’t mean that they committed the crime it depends on the evidence towards the person. Again criminals could still mess with the DNA and evidence of a crime scene, which can lead to many suspects of a crime. For example someone who wanted to falsely accuse a certain person could have planted a cigarette. But just because DNA of a person was there doesn’t mean it was them. DNA shouldn’t be the final proof because there could be many other things to prove a person’s innocence or guilt like getting a video of something that could possibly connect to the crime. Witnesses could be a big part in a crime as well because they could document everything they saw or heard and be used against a person in court.
Omar Abdul Ballard had admitted to the rape and murder of Michelle Bosko; his was the only semen found. Furthermore, Ballard tried to tell police that he alone had committed the crimes. Yet despite the physical evidence and Ballard’s statements, the courts decided to continue their cases against the other four men. Even the lawyers that should have been trying to defend the Norfolk Four did little to actually defend them against the charges and instead opted to try to get them a lighter sentence. Their own lawyers seemed unable to get over the fact that the men had confessed to the crime. Even with explanations of long interrogations, threats, and lies by the police these lawyers were unwilling to believe that innocent men would confess to such a heinous crime. Instead, they were urged to “cooperate” with the police and tell the “truth”. With this type of advice the men went up to the witness stand and committed perjury lying under oath and relaying their false confessions to the jury. The problem it seems is that the police and the courts were not interested in the truth or justice, they are looking for an easy way to close a case. They were looking for someone to blame and they were unwilling to admit that they were wrong when evidence seemed to show they had a made a
Pre DNA testing, their wasn’t much to go on besides eyewitness testimonies. Since the late 1980s, DNA analysis has helped identify the guilty and exonerate the innocent nationwide. While DNA testing was developed through extensive scientific research at top academic centers, many other forensic techniques — such as hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons, firearm tool mark analysis and shoe print comparisons — have never been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation (Innocence Project). Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in 72% of convictions overturned through DNA testing (innocence project). With that being said there should be more than just a witness to convict someone of a crime. For example, rape is a great example to a case that can easily convict an individual if solely based on a witness. Similar cases just as the one Picking Cotton are common. It's what happened post being exonerated that really caught everyone's eye. Most individuals who are wrongly conflict get no more than monetary compensation if that. That doesn't buy back time. Someone inmates have to wait 15+ years before having freedom