The Innocent M Wrongful Conviction Analysis

1512 Words7 Pages
The Innocent Man is a tragic story with definite problems of fairness and justice for those accused. For the fate of the wrongfully accused, there is no place for mistakes by anyone involved with the investigation. When there is a wrongfully accused person in prison, then reform to our criminal justice system should be of utmost importance to all involved. When the wrong person is convicted and imprisoned, the actual perpetrator is at liberty to rape and murder again. People wrongly convicted of crimes are supposed to be protected by the American Criminal Justice system. No one wants to believe they can be convicted of a crime they never commit. All people living in the United States of America, whether they are a citizen or not, have…show more content…
Intervention should take place to stop the wrongful convictions (Jones, 2012). Wrongful convictions happen because of many mistakes made by those investigating or prosecuting the case. For instance, some of the mistakes that bring about a wrongful conviction are eyewitness identification, making false statements or confessions, forensic science errors, perjured informant testimony, police error, prosecutorial error, and inadequate representation for the defense (Gould). In most cases, the main reason for wrongful conviction is eyewitness misidentification. With misidentification an innocent person, police stop investigating. This results in the real offender getting away with the crime. A confession would be the most damaging evidence against a defendant in court, so why would someone confess to a crime they did not commit. There are nearly 400 wrongful felony convictions annually, in the United States (Jones, 2012). Recording interrogations in their entirety should be mandatory in every situation, to prove the reliability of the confession as evidence. Many agencies have adopted this process voluntarily. It is hard to address the topic of wrongful conviction without looking at misconduct of governmental authority. Many police investigators have coerced confessions. The have also pushed witnesses with misidentification. Police have withheld evidence form prosecutors intentionally. They also provide compensation to informants with unreliable evidence. State prosecutors have even mishandled and destroyed evidence. Prosecutors have pressured witnesses. Also, they compensate forensic experts for information necessary for conviction. False DNA or forensic experts mislead the jury with the junk science theories they provide. All of this behavior will continue unless legislators overcome fundamental problems because
Show More
Related

  • CSI Effect

    1518 Words  | 7 Pages

    Investigation and the Law and Order franchises, and has created the expectation by the general population that the prosecution will produce forensic evidence in the bulk of their cases, regardless of whether it will secure a conviction. (Hempel, 2003, p.13 cited in Cooley, M. & Turvey, B. 2014, p173) CSI based programs present the illusion that forensic laboratories are provided with technologically advanced equipment, highly qualified teams and numerous resources to investigate and quickly solve

    Read More

  • Forensic Science: Cognitive Biases In The Criminal Justice System

    2683 Words  | 11 Pages

    Journal of Forensic Sciences, 57, 343-352. Experimental research. (2008). Explorable.com. Forensic science misconduct. (n.d.). NY: Innocence Project. Improving the practice and use of forensic science. (2008). The Justice Project. 1-32. Kassin, S. M., Dror, I. E., & Kukucka, J. (2013). The forensic confirmation bias: Problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition,

    Read More

More about The Innocent M Wrongful Conviction Analysis

Open Document