Eyewitness testimony

Introduction Deoxyribonucleic Acid, or DNA is defined as the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms” (Genetics Home Reference). Breaking this definition down is simply the genetic material passed down from generation to generation, and everyone has it. There is technology that analyzes DNA that can identify an individual just from skin flakes or hair follicles. This makes identifying an individual simple. This makes identifying a criminal offender simple. DNA…

There has been countless unjust trials in American history. Many of them spark debates that last for decades. During the late 1970’s there was one particular trial concerning the murder of the of two FBI agents by a Native American. Leonard Peltier was convicted and tried for murder. The evidence the government used to try Peltier was almost entirely falsified. Leonard Peltier’s trial was a shameful event in our history as he extradited for false affiliates, tried with false evidence, and never…

Memory is the encoding, storage and retrieval of past events and experiences, it is present in the short term memory store and then transferred to the long term memory store. The retrieval of memory isn’t always accurate as memories become distorted over time. The distortion of these memories are due to some influencing factors such as language, age, reconstructive errors and emotion. Taking all these factors into consideration leads to the point that memory is only to some extent reliable.…

Many Americans are afraid to challenge an imperfect criminal justice system responsible for allowing thousands of innocent people pleading guilty each year. The 6th Amendment allows “the accused the rights to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury” in all criminal prosecutions. However, most cases never reach to a trial because the plea bargain guarantees the accuser to take a shorter sentence. Prosecutors take advantage of the criminal justice system by using mandatory minimums and…

My cousin Vinny is a film about two best friends, Bill Gambini and Stanley Rothenstein, whom have just being awarded scholarships to UCLA. Before the semester starts the boys decide that they want to drive through the south, once they arrived in Alabama they decide to stop at a convenience store to pick up some snacks. Not soon after they check out and leave the store they are pulled over and arrested for what they believe is shoplifting, however; eventually when they are at the police station…

Police Use of Force Police use of force is an often misunderstood and ambiguous policy. Its purpose is to allow police officers the ability to apprehend and conduct investigations using an appropriate amount of physical and psychological force. Even though some feel that the police should have a wide berth to decide what it considers an appropriate use of force, current policy is ambiguous because there have been many civil law suits and protests claiming inappropriate use of force, public…

tackled rather than being that whether innocent individuals are the victims of wrongful convictions or not. According to the author, majority of such cases were due to the misidentification by the eyewitness, the misconduct of the policemen or the prosecutors and in some cases false confessions or perjured testimony. Thereafter a number of empirical investigations tried…

Wrongful convictions undermine the Criminal justice system and the procedural structure that is supposed to “uphold” and help deliver justice. Justice is a term that has many different definitions however within the Canadian Justice System, what is Justice? Is justice having criminals being convicted regardless of how evidence was obtained or excluding important evidence based on how it was obtained, which may allow someone who is guilty, to be “free”. The Justice system protects the accused by…

Over time, punishment has changed, and society’s views have as well. Capital punishment has been a largely debatable subject over the past decades, but the government still chooses to keep this punishment. Although the death penalty should be viewed as a good way to keep murderers behind bars, this punishment can send an innocent person to death row for a crime they did not commit, and in cases, there are problems of people being subjective, such as having discrimination. Capital punishment is a…

Legal defense of “Not Criminally Responsible” as result of psychological disorders Psychology is used in the legal system in many ways, whether it is to assess the competency to stand trial, competency of eyewitness testimony, or asses the dangerousness of the psychopathy (Costano & Costanzo, 2013). In recent years a vast number of defences has used the argument that their clients are incompetent to stand trial or are not criminally responsible due to insanity or other psychological issues…