Today's Legal System

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One of the principles of our legal system is that it is better for ten guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to go to jail. I agree with this principal, to a point. I do not think anyone should be incarcerated for a crime they did not commit. In today’s legal system that is not always the case however. Personally, I could never imagine serving time in a prison, or jail for a crime I was wrongly accused of. It would be demoralizing, depressing, and extremely frustrating. Day in and day out you would be forced to sit in a cell and think that you are serving time for someone else’s crime. Being forced to think about all of the things you could have done differently in the events leading up to being accused, what you discussed with your lawyer, and the trial; analyzing everything you could have potentially done differently would drive any sane person mad. In today’s legal system, I think prosecutors are more worried about putting someone behind bars, even if that person did not commit the crime. That is not the principal that our legal system was based off of. In today’s world it is almost gotten to the point where you are “guilty until proven innocent” rather than “innocent until proven guilty”.…show more content…
Just recently, Jonathan Fleming, a man who was imprisoned for 24 years for a murder he did not commit was released from prison. Fleming spent 24 years in prison for this murder that he was wrongly convicted of. Fleming, who is now a free man, has struggled since being released. He is financially unstable because of his time spent in prison. He has to depend on family members and friends just for a place to live. Being in prison for that long has made him out of touch with today’s society. Family events, such as birthdays, funerals, marriages went on without him while he was incarcerated

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