The Trial Scene And Anatomy Of A Murder

Simon Gittany was a male perpetrator. In almost 4 out of 5 intimate partner homicides the perpetrator was a male (Australian Institute of Criminology 1998).

The Leslie Faber rape took place in the Scherzer’s basementon the afternoon of March 1, 1989. During the trial the defence attorneys did everything they could to try

In the video “The Confessions” presented by Frontline, a murder of a women that was committed by one man, quickly resulted into a false gang murder-rape scene committed by eight men. The victim, Michelle Bosko, was seen to be raped and killed in her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. From the video, it has been proven that seven out of the eight men that confessed were innocent, but somehow they all received an unequal punishment. Because the innocent men admitted to a murder that they didn’t commit out of fear, they were all sentenced to some time in prison. The head detective, Glenn Ford, intimidated the men so much that they either were convinced that they were at the crime scene or they told him every detail that he wanted to hear.

“ Case screening is the gateway to the criminal justice system. Prosecutors, acting as gatekeepers, decide which instances of alleged victimization will be passed on for adjudication by the courts” (Frohmann, 1991, p. 213). As Supreme Court Justice Jackson acknowledged in 1940, “the prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America” (Davis, 1969, p.190). Frohmann examined the powerful discretion prosecutors have in their justification for sexual assault case rejections in her research article, Discrediting Victim’s allegations of Sexual Assault: Prosecutorial Accounts of Case Rejections. Her research was replicated

Murder on a Sunday Morning is about an African American boy who was wrongly convicted of murder. He was only fifteen years old when his life changed forever. While first watching the documentary, it seems to the audience that Brenton Butler, the convicted boy, is guilty. Mr. Stephens, husband of the victim, Ann Stephens, claims that Butler came over, tried to take Anna Stephens’ purse, and then before she could comply, he raised his gun and shot her in the face. Sadly, Mr. Stephens was the only eye-witness, which is a major red flag, as he is connected to the victim. After being forced by the detective, Butler confesses. Once defense attorney, Patrick McGuinness is involved, he has Butler tell the court of his innocence and thus beings the criminal proceedings for Brenton Butler.

What did the judge do wrong? Which judicial selection option—either appointment, election, or merit—would help to reduce instances of judicial misconduct?

The O. J. Simpson double murder case, also titled “People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson was a trial in which James O.J Simpson, a former National Football League player was convicted at the Los Angeles County Superior Court of two murder offenses on June 12, 1994. He was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, a restaurant waiter at Mezzaluna. The trial spans for a period of eight months. The opening statements were read on January 23, 1995, whereas the verdict, which left Simpson a free man, was declared on October 3, 1995. “The Trial of The Century,” as it is commonly known, has been described as the most publicized trial in history. However, before Simpson could be arrested and prosecuted, they had to go through an investigation process with the implementation of some techniques used by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as this essay illustrates.

Rape is one of the most widespread and ubiquitous violent crimes facing America, making laws regarding rape and the judicial processing of rape increasingly important. The judicial process itself deters both rape reports and rape convictions. Not only does the judicial processing or rape cases itself deter reports and convictions, but it also has a negative impact on the moral and mental well being of the victims who decide to pursue their cases.

The novel Unfair: the new science of criminal injustice, is a collection of short pieces addressing different situations in the criminal justice world where psychology plays a major role in determining outcomes. Chapter 6, "The Corruption of Memory”, addresses the problems with the process and using of an eyewitness testimony to convict someone (108-132). John Jerome White’s real-life example is used to demonstrate the problems with eyewitness testimony and how mistakes made during the process can ruin someone’s life. In the case of John Jerome White, he was misidentified as the man who raped and robbed a 74 year old women, by the victim herself (6 weeks later), which resulted in him spending 28 years in prison. To make it worse the actual guilty man, James Edward Parham, was in the lineup one person away from Mr. White and he was not caught again until he raped another victim. Many errors were made in how the case was handled and although they were not intentional they still magnify problems in the justice system and how we view our memories. From immediately after the crime to the point a suspect is put behind bars, the questioning, interrogation techniques, line up methods, and cross examinations can all effect the victims and witness’s recollection of events. Human memories are thought to be strong but with all the information that needs to be processed they are not as reliable as thought. However, this is not accounted for in the criminal justice system and it can greatly affect the outcomes of cases like John Jerome White’s. The point of the criminal justice system is to provide justice like it says in its name and although it happens more times than not, if there are possibilities of not providing justice they need to be fixed. Chapter 6, "The Corruption of Memory”, looks at what went wrong in order to wrongly convict an innocent man which ended up costing him half his life and how psychological principles could help prevent this from happening again.

Steven Avery of Making A Murderer still insists that he is not guilty and now news is out that he has filed an appeal saying that one of the key jurors had it out for him. TMZ shared that Avery wants his conviction for the 2005 killing of Teresa Halbach thrown out and to be released from jail. Avery is saying that one juror repeatedly said he was "f**king guilty." He also told the other jurors "If you can't handle it why don't you tell them [the judge] and just leave." Avery thinks that this is enough to get his case thrown out and get him out of jail again.

In this article, Edens and Cox suggest that the prosecution in capital murder trials produce evidence regarding antisocial personality disorder, sociopathy, and psychopathy. ASPD, sociopathy, and psychopathy all have a long history in the criminal justice system. Mental health experts are called in to evaluate the suspect during sentencing, to determine future violent behaviors, and if there is any potential for rehabilitation. In their research, they found little systematic research on how much of an impact ASPD, sociopathy, and psychopathy have on a case outcome. They decided to carry out a survey at a national conference to measure how frequently this evidence was produced. They found that ASPD evidence was used more than sociopathy and

Plea bargaining is said to allow the victims to be shielded from the emotional stress/anxiety of trial, it is also suppose to prevent the victim from having to be in the presence of the offender and having to re-live the victimization. Plea bargaining is also said to provide the victim with the closure and the understanding that the defendant will be punished for their crime. Although this may be true, without a doubt, plea bargaining hurts victims. Many victims are disappointed when defendants are allowed to enter plea bargains, it creates a feeling that the harms they suffered were disregarded and the defendants got off way too easily. A perfect example of how plea bargaining can hurt victims is the story of the sexual assault that occurred University of Cincinnati’s campus. Mark Glover, a 27 year-old graduate student met a girl in the dining hall, introduced himself, hung out with her and then told her that he wanted to show her something in the Steger Student Life Center. In the Steger Student Life Center he forced her into bathroom, holding her against her will and raped her. Mark was charged with four counts of rape, one count of gross sexual imposition, and one count of kidnapping. Thanks to a plea deal offered by the prosecutor to ensure conviction, Glover pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition and all other charges were dismissed. Glover was sentenced to three years of probation.(Butts) Katherine Pridemore, assistant prosecuting attorney said, “No one was happy with this plea. We wanted him to go to prison.” Not only does this story show how plea bargaining undermines the system and is unconstitutional but it also shows how justice is not served to the victim. Situations like these make people lose hope in the system and when that happens people begin to seek their own justice. This creates more problems for everyone. Is society

One of the most common disappointments to victims comes along with the decision for a plea bargain, which is when the defendant pleads guilty in exchanges for a lesser changer and shorter sentence that is agreed upon by the defenses and prosecution lawyers. This is unfortunate and sometimes unavoidable because a plea bargain is the most common way for a case to be settled; usually victims see their day in court as the only way for them to fully get justice and feel a sense of acceptance that is needed to move on. The most frustrating part of a plea bargain is that the victims input and opinions are not taken into consideration. This is typically a process done behind closed doors between the attorneys and defendant because if the victim is present it could lead to more problems instead of resolving issues. Attorneys believe that with the presence of the victim during the negotiations will come decision making based on emotion instead of realistic expectations. Other issues associated with victims having a part in plea bargains is that it also takes away the ability to speak candidly about the situation and lead to more cases going to court. The victim would often try to

A crime being committed is the first event to initiate our criminal justice system. On June 12th 1994 a double murder was reported at the residence of Nicole Brown Simpson the ex-wife of the then beloved Orenthal James (OJ) Simpson. It was discovered that Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman had been brutally murdered and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) began their investigation, this being the second step in our criminal justice system.

I went to the Cole County Courthouse to observe a criminal jury trial that involved a retrial for second degree arson. I was able to be a part of the jury selection proceedings. I witnessed what kinds of questions that are asked of the potential jurors and to see how people respond or act when they are put on the spot about their personal beliefs about certain things. This was a very interesting proceeding for me as I have never been selected for jury