Should Innocent People Be Convicted With Only Circumstantial Evidence?

Wrongful convictions occur when innocent defendants are found guilty in criminal trials or when defendants feel obligated to take a plea agreement in order to avoid extremely long sentences or the death penalty. The term wrongful conviction can also refer to cases in which a jury finds a person with a good defense guilty or where the conviction is reversed in violation of the defendants constitutional rights. The term actual or factual innocence is used to refer to persons who did not commit the crime. Miscarriage of justice is also used to describe wrongful convictions.

Still sometimes, prosecutors might be persuaded that they have the correct respondent and a totally precise charge with respect to what crime(s) he or she carried out, but secure a conviction might be flawed. This obviously is valuable for the two sides to mastermind a determination of the issue without either side taking the risk that the body of evidence may conflict with them if it somehow managed to go to trial.

The medias explanation for the acquittal was due tot the CSI Effect because one juror on the case stated that there was not enough physical evidence to find her

Therefore, assuming the guilt of an unproven "criminal" is nothing new, as the short story "The Curse of the Poisoned Pretzel" by Paul Haven clearly displays; the author develops a case against his subject without ever stating that it is actually true. Haven writes about the suspicious death of a man by

Innocent until proven guilty is a phrase that applies to our judicial system in modern times; however, when the play Doubt by John Patrick Stanley was written this phrase did not always apply. The play is a parable that makes you think about how gossip and rumors can cause havoc and potentially ruin someone’s career. In the play the rumors that are flying are rumors about whether or not Father Flynn is innocent or guilty to the crime of molesting a young boy named Donald Muller. Critics still argue whether he was innocent or guilty to the crime today, and no answer is known. However, based on the evidence in Patrick Shanley’s play Doubt: A Parable, one could conclude that Father Flynn is innocent due to the fact that he had reasonable evidence

The Innocence Project was established in the wake of a landmark study by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Senate with help from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Schneider, 2013). This study found that there were numerous reasons why people are wrongfully convicted including, but not limited to eye witness identification, perjured testimony, improper forensic science techniques, and government misconduct (Roberts & Weathered, 2009) The original Innocence Project was founded twenty two (22) years ago as a part of the Cardoza School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City, New York (Davis, 2012). The Innocence Projects primary goal is to exonerate those whom have been convicted of a crime when there is DNA evidence available to be tested or re-tested (Mitchell, 2011). DNA testing has been possible in five (5) percent to ten (10) percent of cases since 1992 (Risinger, 2007). On the other side, other members of the Innocence Project help to exonerate those have been convicted of a crime where there is no DNA evidence to test. A goal of the Innocence Project is to conduct research on the reasons for wrongful convictions, how to fix the criminal justice system, as well as advocate for those who have been wrongfully convicted (Steiker & Steiker, 2005). The members of this organization strive to teach the world about the dangers of wrongful convictions. To date, this non-profit legal organization, has freed three hundred eighteen (318)

Eyewitness evidence has always been considering critical information when it comes to court trials and convictions. But how reliable are eyewitnesses? Scientific research has shown that eyewitness’s memories are often not accurate or reliable. Human memory is very malleable and is easily changed by suggestion. Relying on eyewitness evidence instead of scientific data often leads to wrongful convictions. Scientific evidence is much more reliable, and should be more important in court cases than eyewitness evidence.

Every time an innocent person is exonerated based on DNA testing, law enforcement agencies look at what caused the wrongful convictions. There are many issues that contribute to putting guiltless lives behind bars including: eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, imperfect forensic science, and more (Gould and Leo 18). When a witness is taken into a police station to identify a suspect, it is easy for their memories to be blurred and their judgment influenced. This can lead the witness to identify a suspect who is actually innocent. Flawed forensic science practice also contributes to wrongful imprisonments. In the past, analysts have been inaccurate due to carelessness, testified in court presenting evidence that was not based

Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate, therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. Discuss.

This usually occurs when an innocent person believed to be convicted of a crime gets executed, due to the fact that the evidence provided in court usually contains some flaws to erroneously indicate that he/she is responsible for the crime. In the short story “Two Fishermen”, the narrator states ‘In the morning, young Thomas Delaney, who had grown in the town, was being hanged: he had killed Mathew Rhinehart whom he had caught molesting his wife when she had been berry picking in the hills behind the town. Thomas Delaney had taken a bad beating before he had killed Rhinehart.’ This demonstrates that Thomas was innocent because he tried to save his wife from Rhinehart’s approach. But when Rhinehart starts beating Thomas very badly, Thomas had to react quickly and was forced to kill him in order to defend himself from the bad beating. Hence penalties on innocent can be avoided, only if the right to defence is protected and capital punishment is banned from the

“Wrongful convictions happen every week in every state in this country. And they happen for all the same reasons. Sloppy police work. Eyewitness identification is the most- is the worst type almost. Because it is wrong about half the time. Think about that.” (Grisham). Wrongful convictions can happen to anyone, at anytime. Grisham implies wrongful convictions happen for the same reasons, careless police work as well as eyewitness identification. An eyewitness identification is a crucial aspect in detective work because it essentially locates the person at the crime scene. This is the worst cause of wrongful convictions because it is wrong half the time.

Another reason why people are wrongly convicted for a crime they did not commit is false confession from the victim of anyone that say they say what went on during the crime, and so bad lawyering. Sometimes the lawyer over looks many things during the case or most often they are more than likely not prepared for the case at all.

The lack of proper resources during a trial can make the difference between the innocence and guilt of a person. The death penalty does not always show the innocence or guilt of a person. It shows how much he or she is willing to spend to help the trial go his or her way. The death penalty is an unfair system to those who cannot afford the “evidence” they need to help free them.

Could crimes be unfairly decided depending on evidence and how it is presented to the court? In fact, this happens regularly. This results in many people being falsely convicted of a crime which they never committed. However, the evidence and how it is presented to a jury can change the final decision. There are several significant similarities and differences between A Lesson Before Dying and Murder on a Sunday Morning. These include the way the men were treated while on trial, what type of crime they were accused of, as well as the final decision of the court.

The purpose of this article by Garrett (2011) was investigated the problems with invalid and/or unreliable forensic evidence that lead to wrongful convictions by investigating exoneration case, in which faulty forensic evidence was presented. This is important to the fields of law and psychology because forensic evidence is still used in many cases, despite not being the most reliable evidence.