Bloodsworth's Life In Prison Research Paper

This book is about a man who changed his whole life in prison. The author’s purpose for this book is to inform. He wrote this book for a young adult audience. I know this because I found it in the young adults section in the library, also because some events in this story aren’t meant for children to be reading. For example you wouldn’t read a book about someone selling, transporting, and smoking hash, which is a drug to a child. I chose this book because I needed a short nonfiction book to read, so that I could complete this book report.

That he was exonerated raises questions as to whether there are other countless people serving time for crimes they never committed. There is need to examine the role of DNA in criminal prosecutions since this plays a fundamental part in convicting a suspect.

Lawton, I would like to first say that I enjoyed reading your forum. The incident that occurred to Ayers was unfortunate. However, there are many cases that occur just like his. The Innocence Project was established to help those individuals who were falsely accused. According to Mangan (2004), “The program is an offshoot of the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit legal clinic that handles many cases in which DNA testing of evidence can conclusively prove the innocence of some prisoners” (p. 26). However, it takes more programs to help those such as Ayers who have been falsely accused. In his case, he was proved incident. However, many individuals do not have that happen and are locked up for years, if not executed. The investigators and

From the way this case is going the police just made and arrest based on what they thought happened without during a deeper investigation. To see if there was anyone else that could have been considered as a person of interest besides the son-in-law. Even though it seems that David Hill Mrs. Wright’s son-in-law and business partner were having financial problems with their business. Doesn’t mean they had any heated arguments and problems that had police having to get involved. So when she was discovered beaten to death in her home. Seemed like a random killing. But why would they place the son-in-law under arrest for her murder and why so much hate toward and woman this old. The observation of the crime scene shows that Molly Wright was beaten with a heavy weapon which means that the blood spatter could be spread in a fine mist and the deposited on to the suspect.

English convicts, who were treated with harsh brutality, should not have been sent to Australia in the time around seventeen eighty-eight.

The first case of exoneration in the United States was found in the late 1980s. Before this time several hundreds of people were falsely accused of committing a crime. Joseph White was convicted by a jury in 1989 for his alleged role in the crime and sentenced to life without parole (Innocence Project, 2014). He had spent eighteen years in the prison living the life of a murderer when in 2008 he was taken to the court and a DNA test was run on him. This test proved that White was innocent and that the crime was committed by someone else.

Improper forensics, bad lawyering, snitches, unqualified “experts,” eye witness misidentification, false confessions, and mishandled evidence are all just a few reasons for wrongful convictions in the justice system. However, the authors of Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right, discuss how DNA is a main factor into “actually innocent” people. Throughout this book we learn stories about those who were wrongfully convicted and later proven guilty for reasons such as DNA testing. While this proves to us that not everyone convicted is guilty, it points out many other errors in the criminal justice system as well.

No suspect was ever positively identified, although police investigated over 200 leads and 40 potential suspects. ‘In August [of the year] 2000, evidence from the case was analyzed using current DNA technology’ (Using DNA to Solve Crimes). ‘Then, in February 2001, the DNA sample was matched to an individual who was already serving a five-year sentence for an unrelated 1997 sexual assault of a child. The man has since been convicted of capital murder and aggravated sexual assault.’ In this criminal case, DNA evidence played an important role. A lady was raped, and just because of a DNA sample the criminalist picked up and carefully studied, the suspect was finally caught. This entire investigation took four years, but that was 15 years ago. Meanwhile, technology has advanced immensely and some cases may not have to take as long as that one did. Although the criminal was caught because of another crime, he was still on the loose after the first. This case is an example of how important DNA evidence can be. Specifically on a rape case, semen residue may play a big role in DNA testing, but if semen residue is not present on the scene, blood DNA evidence is definitely

During the past twenty years reports have shown cases where people had been wrongfully convicted and exonerated in murder and rape cases. Many exonerations occurred during post-conviction and DNA tests have revealed the innocence of wrongfully convicted individuals (Leo & Gould, 2009). Over 230 prisoners have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing and in the past twenty years many wrongful convictions prove their innocence through non-DNA means (Leo & Gould, 2009). Before 1989, the first year to use post-conviction DNA testing was used to establish innocent and even in capital punishment cases. There has been a growth in culture and among criminal justice professionals who were wrongfully conviction that occur in criminal justice systems (Leo & Gould, 2009).

As I slowly made my way down the concrete stairs holding onto the railing so I would not fall. One step, two steps, Three steps, all the way to the bottom. The stairwell was cold and echoed as I counted aloud. Finally the last step as I jumped landing with a big thud on the floor. I loved going to see my Grandma and Grandpa Wismann. Grandpa Wismann is a very important man, he is the Sherriff. My grandparents lived about the jail. I was allowed to go downstairs and explore certain parts of the jail. As a five year old it was the neatest thing on this earth.

Often times there are articles in newspapers or headline segments on the news about a person who spent most of their adult life in prison, only to be freed because they were truly innocent. Thus, in the case of Joseph sledge, that was all too true. In 1976, Joseph Sledge was sentenced to prison for the double murder of Josephine Davis, 74, and her daughter Aileen, 57, at their home in the small North Carolina town of Elizabethtown (Zucchino, D., 2015 Jan., 24). It is baffling how evidence provided by officers and testimony that convicted him was the reason behind his presumed guilt and eventually the result of his freedom.

Allowing prisoners to have a chance to learn and obtain education is of the utmost importance. If we don't provide an opportunity for them, they will not become properly rehabilitated and will most likely be stuck helpless when they finally return to society. Books can give them a chance to learn a new skill and have a different view on life and human potential with the right books in their hands. To give them a chance to keep their mind busy, while learning valuable information, can be the difference a prisoner needs in the prison, and back in society. Prison life can make a person feel depressed and useless. Giving a prisoner a book, may just help them get through the day, and know they still have a chance when they get out. You have the

Finally, after five months the worst moment in my prison experience happened. I was in the shower minding my business when a guy attacked me with a shank. He put five slash wounds into me before the guards could restrain him. I knew it was it after that, I could no longer take being in prison. It was time to escape the situation.

He spent time in prison, and two years on death row. However, when a DNA test was done in 1993, he was exonerated from his crime (Iwasaki, 2017). This proves that before there were advances in technology like DNA testing, the justice system was and still is capable of making mistakes. There is no way to tell if the over 1,000 people executed since 1973 were innocent, but many times new evidence has come up after the defendant was executed.

As previously stated in the article, there are multiple reasons as to why wrongful convictions may occur. To reiterate, some of these possible causes for erroneous convictions are: erroneous forensic science, inappropriate, professional and institutional misconduct, scientific limitations that plagued our society before the technologic revolution, racial bias, false confessions (usually due to the imposition of a plea bargain), eyewitness error, and sometimes very misleading jailhouse informants. False confessions will be the main focus of this discussion as they are one of the most blameworthy issues associated with causing wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system. Racial bias will also be discussed because although it may still be an ongoing issue at present, it was of much greater concern in the past which is when many of these newly exonerated prisoners were convicted. This leads to the belief that there are still many innocent persons imprisoned who, with the help of innocence projects and DNA technology may have the potential to also be exonerated.