Every year in the United States approximately ten thousand individuals may be convicted of a serious crime that they did not commit (Spring 1). Therefore, allowing guilty parties who are a danger to society to remain on the streets resulting in a lack of trust from members in the public towards the judicial system; this source of an undermine towards the judicial system created by the viewpoints of the public on wrongful convictions may be considered as the foremost source of what leads to the main causes for wrongful convictions. The main causes for wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system are mistaken identification by an eye witness, ineffective assistance of the defense counsel, police or prosecutorial misconduct, and false
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When a conviction depends completely on whether or not an eyewitness can select the correct suspect and not one of the foils, known non-suspects, out of a lineup is where many cases of wrongful convictions can begin. For example, in many cases it appears juries believe a witness who can correctly identify a defendant from lineups, even when other sources of evidence are contradictory to their statements (“Eyewitness Identification” 1); therefore, proposing a possibility of bias towards one piece of evidence while ignoring all opposing information from others. However, some may say that eyewitness testimony is the only way to correctly identify the accused suspect. Although in some cases that statement may be true when no other form of evidence is present, for so many others, the eyewitness identification can lead to a lapse in judgement by the jury who may very easily dismiss other pieces of evidence that are available to them; therefore, an individual who unfortunately matches the description of the guilty party may be imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. Not only could mistaken identification by an eyewitness lead to a wrongful conviction in the criminal justice system, ineffective assistance of the defense counsel may also pose a possibility for a wrongful
When a conviction depends completely on whether or not an eyewitness can select the correct suspect and not one of the foils, known non-suspects, out of a lineup is where many cases of wrongful convictions can begin. For example, in many cases it appears juries believe a witness who can correctly identify a defendant from lineups, even when other sources of evidence are contradictory to their statements (“Eyewitness Identification” 1); therefore, proposing a possibility of bias towards one piece of evidence while ignoring all opposing information from others. However, some may say that eyewitness testimony is the only way to correctly identify the accused suspect. Although in some cases that statement may be true when no other form of evidence is present, for so many others, the eyewitness identification can lead to a lapse in judgement by the jury who may very easily dismiss other pieces of evidence that are available to them; therefore, an individual who unfortunately matches the description of the guilty party may be imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. Not only could mistaken identification by an eyewitness lead to a wrongful conviction in the criminal justice system, ineffective assistance of the defense counsel may also pose a possibility for a wrongful