The Effects Of Wrongful Crimes In The Criminal Justice System

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Effects of wrongful conviction are commonly underrepresented in the Criminal Justice System. According to the Innocence project (2014), more than 1,300 individuals in the United States that were convicted of crimes have been exonerated and cleared of all charges brought against them. Errors consist of misleading eyewitness testimony, confessions that are coerced, criminal investigators getting tunnel vision, and corruption of prosecutors. Of the many difficulties exonerates face compensation, due to the state, impacted against them is often understated. Many face difficulties with finding employment, healthcare, and housing. The weight of this falls on the shoulders of laws in many states that are guilty of illegal sanctions made by law enforcement, …show more content…
Abusing an innocent person’s right and conflicting punishment towards the family is a justice of error. Environmental and systemic factors affect the criminal justice system and, can be traced to Borchard principal who believes that factors such as how eyewitnesses make mistakes, confessions can be corrupt or coerced, forensic testing can be faulty, and prosecutors can be untrusting. According to Greer (2014), although an acquittal is usually an unlikely occurrence for even a defendant that is wrongfully convicted a plea bargain can often be utilized. Although it will still be a sentence that a defendant is objectively given it will result in less time incarcerated. State crimes contain two concepts with respect to wrongful convictions. The first concept is the violation of rights between the rigid structures of the law. Secondly Friedrich’s (2014) claims in reference to the abuses of power when correlated with the influence it impacts state crimes not only refer harm to the individual, but also society and agencies that influence actions and implied trust among …show more content…
The most horrific tragedy a life can endure is death, which a wrongful conviction can result in. Human inaccuracy can execute this action concurrently so can war which explains one aspect of how the state can impose wrongful convictions among defendants. An example of this can be the case of Ronald Cotton who was convicted in 1984 for the rape of Jennifer Thompson. (p.29) Cotton was sentenced for life based on eyewitness testimony. With advances of DNA evidence some years later Cotton was found to be innocent, and the real perpetrator was found and convicted. A case like this, although handled legally, due to DNA evidence not moving forward until 1989, the state operated appropriately. An example regarding the error of a state can be referred to the conviction of Farah Jama for rape. (p.30) Jama was incarcerated for 6 years, even with DNA evidence and an alibi stating his whereabouts. Upon appeal it was apparent that the DNA evidence that was introduced into the trial was corrupted leading to the exoneration of Jamal. Mistakes such as these signify the exclusion of the state checking credibility and significance of evidence that is discovered during a case, such as

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