Wrongful Convictions
Mayleika Pizano
Wrongful Convictions- Inmates on Death Row
Lately, there has been an increasing public awareness and significance of wrongful convictions in America. The growing awareness among policy makers and U.S. citizens have resulted mainly due to highly exposed post-conviction DNA exoneration of inmates who served lengthy prison sentences, as well as the growing eradication of the use of death sentence in America. Recent inquiries involving the likelihood of error in capital cases have further helped to create this growing attention - including a sense of urgency - to the problem. A recent study indicates that at least twenty-three innocent citizens have lost their lives through execution. Further research into the issue of errors, on cases filed between 1973 and 1995, indicate that, nearly seven in every ten, capital sentence cases had serious reversible errors, indicating the possibility of numerous cases of wrongful executions and convictions. Although; the errors usually result in numerous wrongful convictions, most do not face life in prison or the death sentence. However, these errors often lead to inmates’ wasting many of their productive years behind bars although it is not warranted. Even as, this happens, the real offenders remain among the public, and are free to commit further crimes, thus posing as a threat to public safety. This paper mainly focuses on wrongfully convicted inmates, particularly those on death row (Huff & Killias, 2010).
Cases of wrongful convictions on the part of inmates can be highly traumatizing, given that many of them end up losing their productive years behind bars due to errors in the process of delivering justice. No methodical data exists on wrongful convictions in the U.S.; in addition, no plausible methodology exists for determining the level of wrongful convictions because a greater number of these cases go undiscovered and corresponding surveys of prisoners, for instance, would certainly not have
Wrongful Convictions- Inmates on Death Row
Lately, there has been an increasing public awareness and significance of wrongful convictions in America. The growing awareness among policy makers and U.S. citizens have resulted mainly due to highly exposed post-conviction DNA exoneration of inmates who served lengthy prison sentences, as well as the growing eradication of the use of death sentence in America. Recent inquiries involving the likelihood of error in capital cases have further helped to create this growing attention - including a sense of urgency - to the problem. A recent study indicates that at least twenty-three innocent citizens have lost their lives through execution. Further research into the issue of errors, on cases filed between 1973 and 1995, indicate that, nearly seven in every ten, capital sentence cases had serious reversible errors, indicating the possibility of numerous cases of wrongful executions and convictions. Although; the errors usually result in numerous wrongful convictions, most do not face life in prison or the death sentence. However, these errors often lead to inmates’ wasting many of their productive years behind bars although it is not warranted. Even as, this happens, the real offenders remain among the public, and are free to commit further crimes, thus posing as a threat to public safety. This paper mainly focuses on wrongfully convicted inmates, particularly those on death row (Huff & Killias, 2010).
Cases of wrongful convictions on the part of inmates can be highly traumatizing, given that many of them end up losing their productive years behind bars due to errors in the process of delivering justice. No methodical data exists on wrongful convictions in the U.S.; in addition, no plausible methodology exists for determining the level of wrongful convictions because a greater number of these cases go undiscovered and corresponding surveys of prisoners, for instance, would certainly not have
References: Huff, C. R. & Killias, M. (2010). Wrongful conviction: International perspectives on miscarriages of justice. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Leo, R. A. & Gould, J. B. (2009). Studying wrongful convictions: Learning from social science. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 7 (7), 7-30. New England Innocence Project. (2011). Causes of wrongful conviction. Retrieved from http://www.newenglandinnocence.org/knowledge-center/causes/ Westervelt, S. D. & Humphrey, J. A. (2001). Wrongly convicted: Perspectives on failed justice. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.