Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

Words: 675

Pages: 3

Open Document

The Wrong Sentence: So why is it that people are wrongfully convicted of crimes that they didn't commit? Is it simply because of a flawed justice system or does it go deeper than that? Within this essay, I want to further shed light on the topic of wrongful convictions and how they can be prevented.

Wrongful convictions are a grave injustice after all: It not only affects an innocent individual but also undermines the credibility and integrity of the criminal justice system. To avoid wrongful convictions, a multifaceted approach involving various stakeholders is essential.

The first step to understanding why wrongful convictions occur is looking at the people convicted of what seems out of place and what seems to be a common mishap, the first of which is, “The vast majority of people exonerated from death row are black or …show more content…
This in itself further raises the question of whether or not some of those people were actually innocent or not and sadly however most of them were wrongfully killed due to false convictions.

So how do you stop wrong convictions/decrease the chances of them happening? The first step in lessening wrongful convictions is to enhance eyewitness identification procedures. A case of bad eyewitness identification occurs in the case of Kirk Bloodsworth within the article provided it states At trial, five witnesses testified that they had seen Bloodsworth with the victim. However, two of these witnesses had not been able to identify Bloodsworth during a lineup, but had seen him after the crime was committed on television (Innocence and the death penalty). Within this case five eyewitnesses had made it clear that they had seen Bloodsworth while with the victim, yet only to admit that they were not able to identify him. So how can poor eyewitness evidence be improved? Further education to not only officers but the civilian population as a whole, showing them what happens to

Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

death penalty is one of the most controversial issues in the world. Particularly, the unsettling reality of wrongful convictions has cast a shadow over the system. This paper aims toward the current Doherty students perception of these issues and their impact on trusting our justice system vs. facts taken from court cases and victims themselves. In this paper I will identify wrongful convictions; what they are, how they happen, the impacts and how they try to reverse them. Read the article False Confessions:…

Words 3079 - Pages 13

Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

Wrongful conviction, a major issue in the criminal justice system, can be analyzed through various sociological perspectives. This paper will explore how wrongful conviction fits with functionalism, conflict theory, feminist theory, symbolic interactionism, and utilitarianism, also known as rational choice theory or exchange theory. Functionalism is a sociological perspective that views society as a system of interconnected parts that work together to maintain stability and order. From a functionalist…

Words 523 - Pages 3

Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

False confessions are the leading cause of wrongful convictions in homicide cases, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. That is why I believe that if someone is on trial for murder, they may not be guilty. According to the George Innocence Project, 1 in 20 criminal cases result in wrongful conviction. For instance, Andre Davis spent 31 years in prison for a murder and sexual assault he did not commit, while Kristine Bunch was convicted of arson and her 3-year-old son's murder due to a kerosene…

Words 182 - Pages 1

Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

However, wrongful conviction is very bad. Wrongful convictions show the challenges law enforcement and prosecutors face in gathering evidence and building cases, suggesting that occasional errors happen in such a complex process. Innocent people being convicted is an injustice that goes against the foundation of the justice system. It causes people to lose trust in the justice system. This issue causes people to lose trust in the justice system. Wrongful convictions not only undermine the…

Words 1453 - Pages 6

Wrongful Convictions Research Paper

reasons 72% of the reasons as to why people are wrongfully misled. It’s important to know the main leading cause of wrongful convictions. People of color are usually targeted more for crimes they haven’t been involved in, this can be traced back to racism against people of color and shows a bias in the criminal…

Words 802 - Pages 4

Wrongful Conviction: the Darryl Hunt Case Essays

Abstract Darryl Hunt is an African American born in 1965 in North Carolina. In 1984, he was convicted wrongfully of rape and murder of Deborah Sykes, a young white woman working as a newspaper editor. This paper researches oh his wrongful conviction in North Carolina. Darryl Hunt served nineteen and a half years before DNA evidence exonerated him. The charges leveled against him were because of inconsistencies in the initial stages of the case. An all-white bench convicted the then nineteen-year-old…

Words 1248 - Pages 5

Eyewitness Misidentification Research Paper

identification is extremely prone to error, resulting in numerous wrongful convictions and ruined lives. The fallibility of human memory, along with extrinsic variables such as stress, suggestion, and time itself, can alter memories beyond recognition. Understanding the gravity of this situation is critical not only for obtaining justice, but also for protecting innocent people from the horrifying repercussions of misidentification. As a result, this paper will dig into the complexities of eyewitness misidentification…

Words 1370 - Pages 6

Gang Violence Essay

firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. (American Heritage Dictionary) When you put these two words together, you get witness misidentification which has been referred to as the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, with nearly 75% of the convictions overturned through DNA testing. There have been 260 exonerations across the country based on forensic DNA testing with 3 out of 4 involving cases of eyewitness misidentification. (Innocence Project 1999) In 1907 or…

Words 2835 - Pages 12

Mental Health In Prisons

From the ACLU papers on the Dangers of Solitary Confinement, 80,000 people are put unto solitary confinement.…

Words 1543 - Pages 7

Death Penalty Essay

Research Paper The death penalty has been around for thousands of years, dating as far back to the eighteenth century B.C. in Babylon, seventh century B.C. in Athens, and in the fifth century B.C. in Rome. Since then, the death penalty has found its way to many cultures around the world. The British first influenced the death penalty in America when British colonists began to explore the Americas. When the colonists came to America, they brought the practice of capital punishment with them…

Words 3094 - Pages 13