Wrongful Convictions Research Paper
Lessons from Wrongful Convictions
Unit 4 Assignment
Cm107 College Composition
Professor Ann Reich
By: Tracie Moon
“Today, however, most Americans realize that innocent defendants are occasionally convicted, and that America 's criminal justice system has other deep-seated problems with administering equitable punishments.”
I want to begin by saying that this topic has affected me. I have done outside research on the issue. I find it immoral, disruptive, and unjust and it troubles me. To actually put myself in the minds and states of those that have been incarcerated due to wrongful conviction. When in reality they are innocent. I can barely even take myself or my mental state anywhere close to understanding what these people have gone …show more content…
through.
Find it lazy on the judicial systems part in these happenings.
I find it terrifying and surreal and tragic for those who have lived through these experiences. Losing parts of their life, to sit in a cell and be treated inhuman because someone made a judgment error and found them guilty. Many of them spending this time not only incarcerated, but on death row, always just one appeal away from having their entire lives snuffed out.
In this article the facts state that between 1971 and 2007, over ten dozen inmates were exonerated and set free from prison due to being found innocent of crimes they were found guilty of years before.
Most of the people who are lucky enough to be found and retried have spent over a decade in prison or on death row.
Then when they are found innocent at the mercy of pure luck that someone took an interest in their case by chance. They are just kicked out of their cell onto the street and are expected to engage in society like nothing ever happened. All the while the people who are responsible for this inconvenience that has been served to these individuals, go on about their lives and careers. Not even offering up an apology, or any type of remorse or compensation to these people.
“Between 2003 and 2005, Gould served as the Chair of the "Innocence Commission for Virginia" (ICVA), an organization "created to investigate the causes of factual exonerations and to recommend measures to prevent such errors in the future" (p. 5). The Commission has its roots in a symposium issue of Judicature (September-October 2002) on "Wrongful Convictions of the Innocent.” In that issue, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld proposed the establishment of state-sponsored innocence commissions to learn what could be learned from the known miscarriages. From that challenge emerged the ICVA, although it was left to private law firms, not the state, to come forward within the half million dollars in pro-bono …show more content…
services to get the job done.”
"We had decided to investigate known cases of wrongful conviction in Virginia, identify common problems from those cases that had led to the mistaken convictions, and then make recommendations based on additional research to address these deficiencies" (p.
60)
Nine factors surface from the case descriptions as mutual features that are related to these I mistaken convictions, ranging from flawed eyewitness identification to the lack of post conviction procedures that might help correct the mistakes. In most cases, more than one of these factors was present.
DNA evidence was not being used as evidence until 1989. It said in the article I read in Unit 2 that Texas is the only state that preserves all evidence forever. Everywhere else the evidence is destroyed when all the convicted appeals run out. The assistance of DNA is usually the main factor in proving these people innocent and their
exonerations.
Through the research a book has been put together to entail the depth of the research the findings and the stories of the cases examined in the studies that led to the awareness of this unjust social issue that people are facing.
This information has brought fourth awareness in me, changed my views of the justice system and makes me want to use my skills knowledge and education to help people in these situations.
I will be investigating further into this topic for my personal knowledge. It may just have put a curve in my education and career goals. It may end up that I figure out something I can do to intervene or at least help reduce the number of people this happens to.
Very disturbing yet interesting topic. I am grateful to be aware of this issue, but feel such a great amount of emotion for those who have been wronged by this.
I cannot even imagine what they have gone through. How horrible. And unfair, and how scared and mentally effected anyone who has been wrongfully convicted must be. My heart goes out to them. Thanks for the topic though, really made an impact.
References and cites
Lessons from wrongful convictions
Radelet, Michael L. Judicature91.4 (Jan/Feb 2008): 202-203.
Turn on hit highlighting for speaking browsers by selecting the Enter button
Unit 4 Assignment
Cm107 College Composition
Professor Ann Reich
By: Tracie Moon
“Today, however, most Americans realize that innocent defendants are occasionally convicted, and that America 's criminal justice system has other deep-seated problems with administering equitable punishments.”
I want to begin by saying that this topic has affected me. I have done outside research on the issue. I find it immoral, disruptive, and unjust and it troubles me. To actually put myself in the minds and states of those that have been incarcerated due to wrongful conviction. When in reality they are innocent. I can barely even take myself or my mental state anywhere close to understanding what these people have gone …show more content…
through.
Find it lazy on the judicial systems part in these happenings.
I find it terrifying and surreal and tragic for those who have lived through these experiences. Losing parts of their life, to sit in a cell and be treated inhuman because someone made a judgment error and found them guilty. Many of them spending this time not only incarcerated, but on death row, always just one appeal away from having their entire lives snuffed out.
In this article the facts state that between 1971 and 2007, over ten dozen inmates were exonerated and set free from prison due to being found innocent of crimes they were found guilty of years before.
Most of the people who are lucky enough to be found and retried have spent over a decade in prison or on death row.
Then when they are found innocent at the mercy of pure luck that someone took an interest in their case by chance. They are just kicked out of their cell onto the street and are expected to engage in society like nothing ever happened. All the while the people who are responsible for this inconvenience that has been served to these individuals, go on about their lives and careers. Not even offering up an apology, or any type of remorse or compensation to these people.
“Between 2003 and 2005, Gould served as the Chair of the "Innocence Commission for Virginia" (ICVA), an organization "created to investigate the causes of factual exonerations and to recommend measures to prevent such errors in the future" (p. 5). The Commission has its roots in a symposium issue of Judicature (September-October 2002) on "Wrongful Convictions of the Innocent.” In that issue, Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld proposed the establishment of state-sponsored innocence commissions to learn what could be learned from the known miscarriages. From that challenge emerged the ICVA, although it was left to private law firms, not the state, to come forward within the half million dollars in pro-bono …show more content…
services to get the job done.”
"We had decided to investigate known cases of wrongful conviction in Virginia, identify common problems from those cases that had led to the mistaken convictions, and then make recommendations based on additional research to address these deficiencies" (p.
60)
Nine factors surface from the case descriptions as mutual features that are related to these I mistaken convictions, ranging from flawed eyewitness identification to the lack of post conviction procedures that might help correct the mistakes. In most cases, more than one of these factors was present.
DNA evidence was not being used as evidence until 1989. It said in the article I read in Unit 2 that Texas is the only state that preserves all evidence forever. Everywhere else the evidence is destroyed when all the convicted appeals run out. The assistance of DNA is usually the main factor in proving these people innocent and their
exonerations.
Through the research a book has been put together to entail the depth of the research the findings and the stories of the cases examined in the studies that led to the awareness of this unjust social issue that people are facing.
This information has brought fourth awareness in me, changed my views of the justice system and makes me want to use my skills knowledge and education to help people in these situations.
I will be investigating further into this topic for my personal knowledge. It may just have put a curve in my education and career goals. It may end up that I figure out something I can do to intervene or at least help reduce the number of people this happens to.
Very disturbing yet interesting topic. I am grateful to be aware of this issue, but feel such a great amount of emotion for those who have been wronged by this.
I cannot even imagine what they have gone through. How horrible. And unfair, and how scared and mentally effected anyone who has been wrongfully convicted must be. My heart goes out to them. Thanks for the topic though, really made an impact.
References and cites
Lessons from wrongful convictions
Radelet, Michael L. Judicature91.4 (Jan/Feb 2008): 202-203.
Turn on hit highlighting for speaking browsers by selecting the Enter button