On the early afternoon of February 2, 2013, thirteen bullets left two prestigious military men dead the scene. After the death of the two in the shooting range, a vicious manhunt was triggered to find their killer, Eddie Ray Routh. This was the murder of the “American Sniper”, Chris Kyle and his military partner, Chad Littlefield. On February 11, 2013, the murder trial was opened. Visual evidence is key to keeping the jurors indulged in a trial.…
Forensic dramas have been drawing in millions of viewers every night by mixing drama, murder, and sometimes romance and comedy. Television shows such as the CSI series, Law and Order, Bones, NCIS, and Castle allow viewers to be immersed into crime, and feel as though they are a part of solving a burglary, rape, or murder. However, over the years, these programs have come together to form what criminal justice professionals are calling the “CSI Effect”. According to an article written by Honorable Donald E. Shelton, “many attorneys, judges, and journalists have claimed that watching television programs like CSI has caused jurors to wrongfully acquit guilty defendants when no scientific evidence has been presented”. Thus, the “CSI Effect” was…
During any criminal proceeding, the law can either help win the case or lose the case. Every case is unique, whether it is a murder case or a simple assault case. This is why clients need skilled, knowledgeable attorney 's so that they can receive fair trials without police and investigators introducing evidence which may be illegally seized during an arrest. The judge has the ultimate decision whether evidence should be excluded or not, so bringing forth the Constitutional Rights of one 's client is pertinent. Judge Doe is excluding evidence during trial yet the prosecution asked the judge for an Evidentiary Hearing so they can argue their case on why the evidence should be allowed.…
In “A Strong Argument Against Capital Punishment”, Lincoln Caplan expands upon Connecticut's recent choices about capital punishment. Connecticut is one of several states in the United States that brought the issue of capital punishment to the Supreme Court for debate and discussion. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional in the state of Connecticut. In this debate, the Democratic legislative side leaned against capital punishment; while the Republican legislative side leaned towards capital punishment. The Democratic side reasons that the death penalty violates the state constitution against excessive punishments.…
American criminal justice system enforces our laws and keeps watch over us but who is watching over the system? Oversight over the system may after all, be less than optimal going by various criminal cases tainted by prosecutorial misconduct resulting in wrongful convictions. From law enforcement, the elected officials, the court system, to corrections, prosecutorial misconduct gained notoriety because of the absolute immunity they enjoy. According to Silverglate, (2000), “We now live in a time of sharply decreasing faith in the criminal justice system.” This decreasing faith might not be unconnected to the egregiously bad behavior that dots the criminal justice landscape.…
During a trial in court to prove an offender guilty, the prosecutor will use all types of evidence such as, testimonies, direct, circumstantial, or physical. Though most of the case is based off of forensic evidence because it is the most important as stated in “Forensic Evidence” by Andrea Campbell. Forensic science is a science applied to answering legal questions regarding crimes scenes and the people involved in them, it falls under physical evidence because it can be found by scientific means such as fingerprints and DNA test. And it can also be hard evidence such as weapons and clothing.…
I personally think the tough burden of proof used in a criminal trial is a good idea. The primary reason is because it guarantees that the specific person has performed the crime they are being accused of without hestation to act upon it. Anytime a person is accused of a crime, the state becomes responsible for proving his or her guilt in court. The responsibility of proving the case relies fully on the prosecutor. The prosecutor must demonstrate that the defendant is guilty before a jury may convict him or her.…
The advent of plea bargaining in the legal system in the past century has rendered the classic "trial" virtually obsolete. Plea bargaining1 is a crucial feature of our criminal justice system, as approximately 95% of convictions that occur within a year of arrest are obtained by a guilty plea. For at least a century, the institution of plea bargaining' has been a central feature of the American system of criminal justice. In September 203, the Justice Department again revised its guidelines regarding plea bargains. Lawyers and non-lawyers alike have generally assumed that the reason for this is the enormous size of the case load in relation to the available legal personnel.…
An escape from the tyranny of an oppressive king was the cornerstone of the the founding fathers drafting of the Constitution. All men are created equal and in turn should be afforded equal justice. However, legislation from both the federal and state governments could threaten that very premise. Three strikes sentencing laws seek to break a cycle of recidivism from career criminals, but ensnare minorities and the poor at a disproportionate rate when compared to those not in need and whites in the United States. In order to understand the how these laws affect minorities and the poor it is important to first understand the history behind why governments pass such harsh sentencing laws.…
As crime rates have continued to decline, especially in the recent years, criminal justice policy continues increase, therefore, leading to new social problems, such as a growth in the prison population, increased expenditures, and lengthier prison sentences. Over these decades, however, there clearly has been a cause for concern about the lack of accountability and evidence based practice in criminal justice policy in which is needed in order to justify these new social problems and the significant increases in the criminal justice system. Despite these calls for greater accountability and evidence based policy, a large gap continues to remain between these ideals and the realization of them (Mears, 2010). Evidently, these issues are in…
A prosecutor’s job is to search for the truth, to get the judge and jury to favor in the right direction for a defendant whether guilty or innocent and truth is supposed to triumph. However, this is not how the criminal justice system works when speaking of the minority. Innocent individuals are being charged for crimes they did not commit and are being interrogated and threated to except all blame for crimes. Prosecutors bully defendants into pleading guilty and accepting plea-bargains. These prosecutors believe in playing with defendants’ incompetence, so they focus on their lack of knowledge to get the case closed and someone locked down.…
If you are pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit in the name of a loved one, you are going to need to prevent evidence to prove your case and back-up your claims. Your evidence is going to need to demonstrate three different elements in order for your case to have the highest chance of success. It is important to note that this is not all evidence that you need to provide; your attorney will have legal power to request evidence and will gather the necessary evidence to prove the three points below. #1 What Exactly Happened…
The criminal justice system is supposed to be set up where a person who was convicted for a crime was found guilty by a preponderance of evidence brought against that individual not just people being sent to prison for the rest of their lives or sentence to death because there was not enough evidence brought against the offender, however, was still found guilty. But, due to the high rise of DNA cases being exonerated across the United States, there have been some disturbing fact reveals as to why individuals are being wrongfully accused for crimes they did not commit. According to data research from the Innocence Project, the criminal justice is no longer working the way that it should and there is a desperate need for it to be fix and stop…
Ana Sofia Garza Mrs. Williams English II Pre-Ap 02 November 2016 Justice Many people have committed crimes. Some because that is what they do best and some because they don 't know any better and even some who commit crimes out of love, believing the crime is for a greater good. The United States criminal justice system should not allow for exceptions in the application of law due to the fact that justice should be applied equally to all. Even though a person might be disabled, a violation of the law or murder still remains as an illegal action.…
Often, statements from people with incentives to testify — particularly incentives that are not disclosed to the jury — are the central evidence in convicting an innocent person. The registry itself, which looks deeply into 873 specific cases of wrongful conviction, examined cases based on court documents as well as from groups that have long documented wrongful convictions. That group of wrongfully convicted spent more than 10,000 total years in prison, according to the report, with an average of 11 years…