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Ineffectiveness Of The Criminal Justice System

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The Flawed and Ineffectiveness of the Criminal Justice System As humans, we believe in myths that the police, or anyone working for the justice system, will say the truth. This is a given, since they work for the justice system. Nevertheless, the Serial podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig questions this criminal justice system people whole heartedly trust. Serial is about a 1999 case where a Muslim teenage boy, Adnan Syed, is convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee – 17-year-old Korean teenager. I have listened to the Serial podcast and took a significant amount of interest toward it. However, when I continued to listen to the podcast, I could clearly see that throughout Adnan’s trial and the investigation process, there were many flaws in the justice system. This has confirmed the criminal justice system to be flawed and ineffective, which is seen through the defense, investigation team, as well as the prosecution. The defense demonstrates how ineffective and unreliable the criminal justice system is through the tactics used. The only job Adnan’s lawyer, Christina Gutierrez, had was this: to prove Adnan is innocent. However, undoubtedly, she did not do her investigation properly. For instance, Asia’s letter to Adnan when he is in prison was the key evidence to prove that the State’s timeline was wrong. Asia mentioned speaking to Adnan in the Woodlawn Public library, for 15 to 20 minutes during the time the State’s said Hae was killed. The judge wrote Christina Gutierrez’s, Adnan’s lawyer, not using Asia McClain as an alibi witness was strategic, since there was no specified time in the original letters. There was also the call Asia made to the Prosecutor, Kevin Urick, saying that she only wrote the affidavit because Adnan’s family pressured her. If these were the only facts to consider when trying to comprehend the tactics of the defense, I would say it was a good call. Despite it being a well thought out method it made me wonder, if she has gone to the library and asked to see the footage of the day Asia claims to have held a conversation with Adnan, rather than a disadvantage, the letter would have been beneficial for them, since Adnan now has an alibi. Proving the timeline the State presented to

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