In the September 6 issue of the LA Times, reporter Sarah Parvini published an article about a former rapist registering as a sex offender, and his sentence. Ex-Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner, was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman behind a dumpster. The woman was completely unconscious and due to this, he was charged with three felony counts: assault with the intent to commit rape of an unconscious person, sexual penetration of an unconscious person and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. Turner originally faced 14 years and jail but got 6 months instead. He was later released 3 months earlier than his 6-month sentence because of good behavior. This article contains conflict, drama, and oddity. This story contains a man vs.…
Would evidence have been used in Tom’s case? According to a case dealing with an African American, no it wouldn’t. No one seemed to take into consideration that the man “didn’t match the victim’s description of [her rapist],”(INNOCENT MAN’S EIGHT YEAR PRISON ORDEAL). But this evidence didn’t seem to matter, as they were convinced the man had committed the crime. Yet another case when the victim didn’t identify the man as the criminal. A man “Josh Ryen, attacked by three Caucasian or Latino man [had attacked and robbed him], not one African American [like the one that had been convicted of the crime]” (Wooten). The trail should have waited until Ryen's testimony could be heard. Even after Ryen's statement on who the real criminals were evidence…
Victor Burnette spent eight years in a Virginia prison for a rape he didn't commit and nearly 30 years trying to clear his name. Burnette was convicted in 1979 for breaking into a Richmond woman's apartment and raping her. Being labeled as a rapist is an embarrassing and horrible thing. Even though he didn`t do it, it still going to make him feel embarrassed about it. Technology available at the time could not eliminate Burnette as a suspect. Despite maintaining his innocence, Burnette was convicted. The conviction cost him friends and job prospects. While in prison he lost the hearing in his left ear after being attacked by three inmates. He lost eight years of his life in prison, five years on parole, and for 30 years his name was just totally…
Elizabeth Loftus talked about a restaurant manager named Steve Titus who lived in Seattle, Washington. Steve Titus was 31 years old and engaged to a woman who was the love of his life named Gretchen. The couple had gone out for a romantic meal. On their way home they were pulled over by a police officer. Titus’s car resembled a vehicle that had been seen earlier in the evening. His car resembled that of a man who had raped a female hitchhiker. Titus resembled the rapist. The police took a picture of Titus and showed it to the rape victim. She said that he was the closest to the man she had seen. The police and prosecution proceeded with the trial. When Steve Titus was put on trial for rape, the rape victim had gotten on the stand. She said that she was sure that he was the man who had raped her. Titus was convicted and sent to jail. Titus had completely lost fail in the legal system, but he got an idea. Titus called a local newspaper and had gotten the interest of an investigative journalist. The journalist actually had found the real rapist. The rapist had confessed to the rape and was thought to have committed 50 rapes in that area. When the information was given to the judge, Titus was set free. But it didn’t end there. Steve Titus had lost his job, his fiancée, and his entire savings. Titus filed a lawsuit against the police and others he felt were responsible for his suffering. He had become obsessed with his trial. Days before he was to have his day in court, he woke up in the morning and doubled over in pain. He had died of a stress related heart attack at age…
Race, an aspect of diversity led to the arrest and wrongful imprisonment of Ronald Cotton. When Cotton, went to the police station to clear his name, as he heard of the charges, the police had no further ado than to arrest and to charge him with sexual assault. The police charged him with breaking Jennifer’s premises and rape. In the context of this story, one would ask, do minority races have ample presentation in the judicial processes? Again, is the criminal justice system fair and equal to all individuals without regard to race? An impartial response to these questions would be no. Race alone and not substantial evidence led to the wrongful charging and imprisonment of Ronald Cotton. Thanks to the DNA test that the truth came to reveal last, although the suspect had to suffer for over ten years. Also, another woman raped the same night as Jennifer, accused Cotton of her…
On November 10th York had a Fighting Wrongful Convictions: Journalists Police the Justice System panel hosted by the Journalism Department. The main point of the panel was to talk about how a journalist should properly go about writing a story on wrongful convictions and to help illustrate the point they brought in Johnny Hincapie. Hincapie was an 18 year old who was wrongfully charged with helping in the murder of Brian Watkins in the 1990s. Now at 42 years old, and after serving 25 years in prison his case has been dismissed and he is being tried fairly all thanks to the hard work, and dedication of journalist and York professor Bill Hughes who published an article in City Limits Magazine in 2010 addressing Hincapie’s wrongful conviction. At the panel they had Bill Hughes, Johnny Hincapie, Robert Dennison (the former Chairman of the New York State Board of Parole), Pete…
Have you ever heard of the court system acquitting someone that the public unanimously believed was guilty? Casey Anthony was a young mother who appeared outwardly to be a promiscuous woman who was living life with a rough childhood behind her. She appeared like a normal young person, trying to find herself, until she was accused of the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony. An abundance of evidence, holes in her story, and the lack of concern in Anthony’s attitude lead the world to undoubtedly point fingers at her.…
On the dusk of March 4, 1974, an African American by the name of James Bain is convicted of raping a nine-year-old boy at a baseball field in Lake Wales, Florida. The victim reported that the offender was 17 or 18 years old and had bushy sideburns. After police revealed photographs of six potential suspects, only two of them had sideburns. On the grounds that James Bain has side burns, he was interrogated around midnight the next day. Upon interrogation, Bain declared that he was watching television on the night of the attack. Even with an alibi backed by his sister, the police still arrested him. On the day of the trail, the FBI presented the victim's underwear that contained the rapist’s semen. Although they had the semen of the rapist, DNA…
Sulkowicz case is the epitome of reason why rapists should not be allowed to walk free. Allowing rapists to go free damages the victim because they have to see their assaulter day after day. Victims of sexual assault often have PTSD and forcing them to worry about seeing their assaulter could cause them to relive their experience. As a result, there could be a traumatizing effect and a deeper fear set into their minds.…
After the release of Cotton, both Cotton and Thompson have appeared together on various interviews. It is usually best to act friendly during an interview to avoid any awkward situations. The two did have casual conversations with one another. However, Thompson herself wanted nothing to do with Ronald Cotton. She was extremely uncomfortable with Cotton’s presence on their first interview together. Thompson’s discomfort is shown through the line “Finally, I agreed on the condition that I have no contact with Ronald Cotton” (Cotton, Thompson, and Torneo 237). If Thompson is this uncomfortable with Cotton it will be impossible for the two to become friends.…
Sure a security camera got the man’s face and the man was later tracked down and punished by the law, but really it’s too late isn’t it? Jill Meagher had already been raped and murdered no amount of years in prison is going change that is it?…
“ Case screening is the gateway to the criminal justice system. Prosecutors, acting as gatekeepers, decide which instances of alleged victimization will be passed on for adjudication by the courts” (Frohmann, 1991, p. 213). As Supreme Court Justice Jackson acknowledged in 1940, “the prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America” (Davis, 1969, p.190). Frohmann examined the powerful discretion prosecutors have in their justification for sexual assault case rejections in her research article, Discrediting Victim’s allegations of Sexual Assault: Prosecutorial Accounts of Case Rejections. Her research was replicated and extended in a 2001 study by Spohn, Beichner, and Davis-Frenzil titled Prosecutorial Justifications for Sexual Assault Case Rejection: Guarding the “Gateway to Justice”.…
In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was 22 when a man broke into her house and raped her. As the man assaulted her, she studied and memorized his face, as well as his voice, and everything she could about him. Jennifer’s intention was to survive, and when the assault was over, she wanted to put him in prison for the rest of his life for what he did to her. After Jennifer was treated for her injuries she helped the police draw a composite sketch of the man who raped her.…
This case is based on the death of Kristin whose author is her father. Michael Carter was Kristin’s ex-boyfriend, his past criminal record demonstrates how easy it is for criminals to get away with murder. I’m going to go over some of his past criminal record to demonstrate how Michael Cartier should have never been set free in the streets, and to demonstrate how many opportunities our justice system had to put him away in jail before he committed more crimes. I believe that the best way to present Michael’s criminal history is by covering some of the many encounters he had with our justice system prior to murdering Kristin as well as the consequences for his actions. The first arrest was 1998 for burglary, when arrested Michael was sentenced to six month in jail. However, he never served any time for this crime. Followed by a sledgehammer rampage in 1990. Another incident where our justice system failed to put Michael in jail was on March 28, 199I when another of Michael’s violent abuse victim called his probation officer. The probation officer “told Rose to get a restraining order” (Stillman, 2010). Rose Ryan sister mentioned to the probation officer that Michael had a gun in his possession, this led the probation officer to obtain a warrant for Michael Cartier’s arrest. This didn’t stop Michael from attacking rose with a pair of scissors. When Michael was finally picked up by…
On July 21st, 1982 at 3:00 am, a woman in Jacksonville, North Carolina was awoken by a strange man standing at the foot of her bed; he had broken into her house. She was home alone with her three children while her husband was working. The man then forced her to perform sexual acts and oral intercourse for an hour and fifteen minutes. After her attack, she contacted the Jacksonville police to report it. When she talked to the police she described the person to be an African American male about 5’8 in height, weighing between 160 to 165 pounds, wearing dark colored shorts, white socks and high top shoes.…