Miscarriage of justice

The law regarding wrongful death in South Carolina is contained in the South Caroline Code of Laws (Chapter 51, Article 1). It defines wrongful death as occurring when an individual dies through “the wrongful act, neglect or default of another” and details who can bring wrongful death lawsuits and the nature of damages which can be recovered. What is Wrongful Death? Wrongful death can occur through either the negligence or intentional act of another person. Negligence could be found, for…

Wrongful convictions have been a topic of discussion for many decades within the United States Criminal Justice System. A wrongful conviction occurs when an individual is penalized in a court of law for a crime they never committed. Unfortunately, there are many components that can contribute to the unlawful arrest and conviction of an innocent person. Some of the variables can be as minuscule as an improper photo array line and as immense as government misconduct. Consequently, there are many…

innocent person will not be convicted of a crime in America.1 “Like many criminal justice officials, most people appear to believe in what . . . has been labeled ‘the myth of psychological interrogation’: that an innocent person will not falsely confess to a serious crime.”2 This myth, though easily dispelled by psychological and sociological literature on the subject, continues to play an integral role in the criminal justice system.3 Both experimental and field studies demonstrate that…

In April, 1989, a woman jogging alone in New York City’s Central Park was brutally beaten, raped, and sodomized. Five teenagers, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise (also known as Kharey Wise), were convicted of the crime. They became known as the “Central Park Five”, and were convicted largely because of their false confessions. NYC Mayor Koch called it the crime of the century. The sentences of Central Park Five were vacated in 2002 after DNA…

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,…

False eyewitness identification has proven to have a high degree of inaccuracy, yet still remains to be one of the most convincing pieces of evidence presented to a jury during a trial. Eyewitness accounts of certain events have been used to convict individuals that were later exonerated after serving years in a correctional facility for crimes they did not commit. Through the use of photographs and lineups during a criminal investigation, police officers and other interested parties are able to…

uses photography to raise awareness about important issues. In Simon’s The Innocents (2003), the artist’s docuseries and photography book, she sought to raise awareness about flaws in the justice system, particularly wrongful convictions. In the book, Simon underscored the role of photography as an arbiter of justice. Considering Simon’s…

Documentaries are created to demonstrate the reality and educate society. In the documentary After Innocence directed by Jessica Sanders, innocent people were coming out of jail due to newly acquired DNA testing proving their innocence. Hundreds of people have been found guilty and have been locked up in prison, but this documentary demonstrates how years later with DNA testing these former prisoners can be freed. Although the 2005 documentary After Innocence explains how there is hope for those…

INTRODUCTION Eyewitness testimony, which depends on the precision of human memory, enormously affects the result of a trail. For instance, In 1984, American College Student Jennifer Thompson was assaulted at knifepoint by a man who burst into her dorm. Amid her difficulty, Jennifer focused on everything about her aggressor so she could later precisely identify him. Soon thereafter, she worked with law enforcement to make a precise representation out of an attacker. A couple days after the fact…

False confessions have become more prevalent in today’s world. With all of the technology advances today we have found out that we have convicted people who have falsely confessed. In Marion’s peer review article it says, “Since 1989, more than 1,400 wrongful convictions of innocent people have been exposed in the United States—either through DNA testing or via the discovery of other types of evidence” (Marion 65). However today we have organizations that are trying to help people with cases.…