Many factors influence governmental misconduct. The factors of governmental misconduct are forcing false confessions, lying or giving the jurors false information, not handing evidence over to prosecutors, and bribing people to secure faulty evidence and informants (Covey, 2013). In addition, prosecutors force defense witnesses not to take the stand, allowing unreliable witnesses to testify, intentionally destroying evidence, and depending on forensic experts that are not accredited and credible (Brandeis University, n.d.). Police misconduct causes wrongful convictions. Law enforcement officers commit perjury in wrongful conviction cases. Some of the misconduct by police officers are filing false police reports, defining …show more content…
In depth, a misconduct by a government official are police use of excessive force, fraud, false confessions, coerced confessions, sexual assault, dishonesty, and abuse of authority (California Innocent Project, n.d.). In addition, police misconduct was a factor in 50% of DNA exoneration cases (California Innocent Project, n.d.). Police misconduct can be systematic. Most of police misconducts in wrongful convictions are subtle and not torture. For example, Timothy Atkins was convicted for a crime and Powell the witness said that Atkins admitted and confessed to the crime (California Innocent Project, n.d.). After 20 years in prison the California Innocent Project brought supported evidence that, the witness was coerced to testify that Atkins admitted to the crime (California Innocent Project, …show more content…
As wrongful convictions continue to heighten, the cause such as misidentification is an issue that continues to play a vital factor in negligent convictions. There will be continual study and research required to examine why there are so many miscarriages in the justice system. As the researcher examines the causes of wrongful convictions and how it relates to misidentification, the researcher plans to address and implement more research that explains the causes of wrongful convictions. This study is significant because the increase in wrongful convictions and misidentifications will result in increased convictions, and innocent defendants will face harsh sentences and punishments for crimes they did not