Wrongful Convictions Based on Eyewitness Accounts Imagine if you will this hypothetical scenario -- you are walking to your car in a parking garage after a long day at work. You are tired and thinking of what is waiting for you on your desk tomorrow and what you will have to eat when you get home. Suddenly, a man jumps out from behind a parked car and points a gun at you, asking for your money. You are terrified and give him your wallet. He runs away and you call the police. They arrive and you give a sketchy description of the guy who robbed you. He was Hispanic, was wearing a dark jacket and jeans. You can't remember how tall he was and couldn't see the color of his eyes. You didn't see any tattoos, just the gun, which was huge. The police call the information in and another squad car on the way to the scene sees a Hispanic man a couple of blocks away and when he sees the squad car, he starts running away. They chase him and catch him, they pat him down and discover a switchblade knife on him. He's wearing a dark jacket and jeans, but doesn't have a gun. They handcuff him and have you drive past him to see if you can identify him as your robber. You see a Hispanic man standing with two or three policeman around him, with his hands in handcuffs...
You assume that they have the right guy and so you identify him as your robber. He is charged and goes to trial. You are not informed that he did not have a gun on him, and the police were not able to find a gun where he might have disposed of it between your parking garage and where they picked him up. He is convicted of robbery based solely on your testimony.
Wrongful Conviction Review: Henry James Wrongful convictions are convictions where "factually innocent people are convicted of crimes" (Acker & Redlich, 2011, p.3). There are a number of ways that wrongful convictions can occur. Two of these ways are no crime convictions and wrong man convictions (Acker & Reclich, 2011, p.7-8). No crime convictions occur when someone is convicted of a crime, generally murder, and then it is later discovered that no
Wrongful Conviction of James Henry Henry James was only 19 years during his conviction for rape that he did not commit. It is after thirty years imprisonment that the realization of his innocence emerges thereby keeping it free. This case is a good example of the importance of evidence in the proceedings of a case. The imprisonment of the innocent man arose because of the little evidence that he had against
The over-enthusiasm associated with the extensive and unrestrained caution which the prosecutors avail gives birth to the settings in which a prosecutor is able to cause the conviction of an innocent individual. Besides, the mixture of over-enthusiasm and unimpeded discretion on one side and regular non-adversarialness on the other outcomes in an irregular playing field in majority of the defendants either guilty or innocent. (Griffin, 1274) The apparent cases of
Why would somebody confess to a crime they did not commit? According to professor Kassin, Saul, there are several types of people who falsely confess: compulsive type-attention seeker -- confesses to gain a piece of the fame, impress others, or to get attention compulsive type-homeless -- confesses as a way to get off the streets compulsive type-fugitive -- confesses to avoid being prosecuted for a crime elsewhere with stiffer penalties compulsive
(iv) misconduct by the police or unintentional mistake, together with the application of suggestive identification procedures, pressuring of a confession or inculpatory declaration by a suspect, not carrying out other channels of investigation following initial detection of a powerful suspect, and being unsuccessful to give the prosecutor enough proof which is able to point to an individual other than the defendant as the person behind the act. (v) Mistake
Wrongful convicted people have also been seen to experience psychiatric dysfunctions, and long -- term difficulties re-integrating into the society. The convicted people lose income during pleading in their cases, they end up losing their assets, and those employed later get low earnings. The justice system should be a system of high integrity which people can put their faith, to ensure that justice is done to them. If laws
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now