2) Anderson, Barrie “Chapter 9: The Case of William Mullins-Johnson” in Manufacturing Guilt: Wrongful Convictions in Canada. 2nd Edition, pp. 137-157. © 2009 Fernwood Publishing Co. Ltd..
This article The Case of William Mullins-Johnson emphasizes the importance of wrongful convictions further with multiple cases of real life wrongful convictions. These cases show how the accused are not always taken seriously and they have to turn to projects such as the AIDWYC for help since the justice system has failed them, the role of personal values, beliefs, and power imbalance.
The Case Of William Mullins-Johnson
The case of William Mullins-Johnson is about an aboriginal man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering and sexually abusing his niece, …show more content…
One night after dropping some girls off to their own homes after a sleepover, Louise went home to find her daughter Sharon missing and called the police. The police found her daughter at the bottom of the stairs of the basement with multiple wounds. Louise was arrested as suspicion of having killed her daughter. Dr. Charles Smith, who wrongfully convicted Mullins, also inspected her case. He stated that Sharon had been stabbed over 80 times. Immediately she was labeled as a neglectful and abusive mother. In fact, even the police labelled her and accused her of killing her daughter because she was a single mother and it may have caused her to “stress” and result in murdering her daughter over her “head lice.” This is where personal views played a role and instead of investigating, everyone assumed, they looked at her history and believed that their theory was based on facts. When the pictures of the wounds of Kaitlyn were taken to a dentist, he stated that the marks were in fact from a dog’s teeth, not stab wounds since they were not sharp but had more patterned shapes. Dr. Smith stood his ground, disagreeing. The crown denied this and they relied more on Dr. Smith because of his good reputation. This is how those in power wrongfully convicted an innocent mother. After 2 years, there was an autopsy done once again because the idea of “miscarriage …show more content…
One mistake had not only destroyed the accused but also their loved ones. There are too many “mistakes” made by the justice system because sometimes their desions are biased and based on their personal beliefs. Science is believed to be facts but it is impossible for scientists to do not make a mistake in their lifetime. Science is performed by humans therefore, the chance of an error taking place is very likely. We live in a culture where the answer to everything is science. For instance, it explains why we get sick, why our electricity shuts off, causes for diseases, treatments, and etc. Forensic pathologists who are involved in testing must be further trained, educated, and supervised when involved in crime cases since it can cause someone’s life to be destroyed through a wrongful conviction. Also, those in power such as Charles Smith who have a pattern of having made multiple errors in crime cases need to be removed from a position where they are depended on for serious crime cases. For instance, Charles Smith had made errors on 20/44 of the cases he had inspected. 13 of those were believed to be wrongful convictions. This proves that we need to change our culture of power being everything and beliefs clouding our judgement and instead cooperate to serve
This article The Case of William Mullins-Johnson emphasizes the importance of wrongful convictions further with multiple cases of real life wrongful convictions. These cases show how the accused are not always taken seriously and they have to turn to projects such as the AIDWYC for help since the justice system has failed them, the role of personal values, beliefs, and power imbalance.
The Case Of William Mullins-Johnson
The case of William Mullins-Johnson is about an aboriginal man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering and sexually abusing his niece, …show more content…
One night after dropping some girls off to their own homes after a sleepover, Louise went home to find her daughter Sharon missing and called the police. The police found her daughter at the bottom of the stairs of the basement with multiple wounds. Louise was arrested as suspicion of having killed her daughter. Dr. Charles Smith, who wrongfully convicted Mullins, also inspected her case. He stated that Sharon had been stabbed over 80 times. Immediately she was labeled as a neglectful and abusive mother. In fact, even the police labelled her and accused her of killing her daughter because she was a single mother and it may have caused her to “stress” and result in murdering her daughter over her “head lice.” This is where personal views played a role and instead of investigating, everyone assumed, they looked at her history and believed that their theory was based on facts. When the pictures of the wounds of Kaitlyn were taken to a dentist, he stated that the marks were in fact from a dog’s teeth, not stab wounds since they were not sharp but had more patterned shapes. Dr. Smith stood his ground, disagreeing. The crown denied this and they relied more on Dr. Smith because of his good reputation. This is how those in power wrongfully convicted an innocent mother. After 2 years, there was an autopsy done once again because the idea of “miscarriage …show more content…
One mistake had not only destroyed the accused but also their loved ones. There are too many “mistakes” made by the justice system because sometimes their desions are biased and based on their personal beliefs. Science is believed to be facts but it is impossible for scientists to do not make a mistake in their lifetime. Science is performed by humans therefore, the chance of an error taking place is very likely. We live in a culture where the answer to everything is science. For instance, it explains why we get sick, why our electricity shuts off, causes for diseases, treatments, and etc. Forensic pathologists who are involved in testing must be further trained, educated, and supervised when involved in crime cases since it can cause someone’s life to be destroyed through a wrongful conviction. Also, those in power such as Charles Smith who have a pattern of having made multiple errors in crime cases need to be removed from a position where they are depended on for serious crime cases. For instance, Charles Smith had made errors on 20/44 of the cases he had inspected. 13 of those were believed to be wrongful convictions. This proves that we need to change our culture of power being everything and beliefs clouding our judgement and instead cooperate to serve