Introduction “Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example of good or of evil?” (Alfred de Vigny). Memory encodes various pieces of information that can be utilized in an enormous amount of situations to benefit people. However, memory is also fallible. It alters and creates new memories, changing the original encoded data for unknown reasons. This creates a major issue within a judicial system. It takes a few eye witness testimonies towards the prosecuted individual to incarcerate them, even if they did not commit the crime. It is because of this reason that Scott Fraser chooses to speak out against eye witness testimonies.
In his speech, he argues that memory is fallible and should not be as heavily relied upon within the judicial system. Fraser offers a different solution, suggesting that more science and mathematics should be involved within court. He presents the need for change by telling the audience about a criminal case he
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in state and federal courts” (Can Eyewitnesses Create Memories?). His expertise in fallible memory, in addition to his experience with criminal and civil court cases, establish a solid foundation of ethos. To further strengthen his ethos, Mr. Fraser uses a court case in which he was personally invested in, adding in the Nine Eleven Attacks as a supporting example. In his speech, Scott Fraser states, “A good forensic expert also has to be a good educator, a good communicator…” which can be found on paragraph 8 of the transcript. Within this section of the artifact, Fraser gives an explanation of how the court systems do not focus heavily on scientific facts with statistics so to accomplish his goal, he is required to word his findings in a way that his audience will understand. At this point, Fraser proves that he has exceptional quality of
Eyewitness accounts play a huge role in general in trials and verdicts, but may be unreliable many times, with certain views placed on evidence provided by children. Unreliability may arise from not being able to recount the identity of the accused, the actions and speech occurring during that time, the relationship of individuals towards the person in question, and many
Does anyone you know have bowling buddies? Through Mack’s speech he wishes to persuade the college freshmen to want and enjoy reading Shakespeare. He claims this will help them later in life. Mack constitutes an effective argument that shows how Shakespeare is difficult to understand but worth the effort through his use of claims and his appeal to his audience. One device that Mack uses to advance his argument is his use of claims.
There is a publication ban on the names of the accused [father & stepmother] to protect the identity of the boy [son] involved in this case. In the Ontario Provincial Court House in Ottawa, Robert Maranger sentenced the accused [father] to 18 years of imprisonment after Robert Maranger found the accused guilty of torturing his son. Upon sentencing, Robert Maranger made the following statement in court: “I find it extremely difficult to fathom the horrific crime you have committed against your own son. The accused [father] has been convicted of aggravated assault, forcible confinement, failure to provide necessities of life, aggravated sexual assault, and three counts of assault with a weapon.
In “Memory in Canadian Courts of Law”, Elizabeth Loftus introduces the readers to incidents in Canadian courts where “faulty memory of eyewitnesses” have unintentionally convicted innocent Canadians, causing them to carry a burden of being treated as a criminal even if they were later acquitted in order to use it as a tool to motivate those interested in the court system to display the horrendous flaw of eyewitnesses testifying in courts operating under the adversarial system such as in Canada. The flaw cannot be eliminated “unless or until better proof becomes available for these types of claims”. Ultimately, Loftus wants Canadians who cares about the legal system and the wellbeing of other Canadians who may be confronted with the possibility
This essay will consider whether Robert Solomon should receive a Vye direction at the end of his trial. This will be approached from the defence position and therefore will identify the arguments to support Robert having a Vye direction. Vye directions were established in the case of Vye and are given by the judge when summing up to the jury. There are two limbs to this direction. The first limb relates to the defendant’s credibility and is only available to defendants who made pre-trial statements or give evidence.
Syed is spending his fifteen years behind the bars because of Wilds’ testimony; however, throughout the four interviews with the police and at the trial testimony, Wilds provided different statements that made his word a part of invalid evidence of Syed’s guilty. Eyewitness is not the most reliable evidence, for mistakes can be made if a witness misleads the information. In Syed’s case, it is clearly that Wilds was not a reliable person based on his rapidly changing testimony. According to Richard. R Stack, a lawyer and an associate professor at the American University, an eyewitness is only reliable if s/he met all psychological processes, such as acquisition, storage, and retrieval (Stack 88).
The Defendant James Lawrence flies this Motion in Limine under Federal Rules of Evidence 401, 403, and 801(d)(1)(A) to admit evidence of Gale Fitzgerald’s prior drug use. FACTS On July 1, 2016, Gale Fitzgerald was working late. After work she was subject to assault and theft. She identified her attacker as a white man, approximately 5’8 to 5’10 in height, and 160-175 pounds.
Guilty or not guilty, all citizens deserve a thorough trial to defend their rights. Formulating coherent stories from events and circumstances almost cost a young boy his life. In Twelve Angry Men, 1957, a single juror did his duty to save the life of an 18 year old boy by allowing his mind to rationalize the cohesive information presented by the court and its witnesses. The juror’s name was Mr. Davis, he was initially the only one of 12 jurors to vote not guilty in reason that the young boy, sentenced with first degree murder, may be innocent. I am arguing that system 1 negatively affects the jurors opinion on the case and makes it difficult for Mr. Davis to convince the other jurors of reasonable doubt.
False Confessions One of the biggest problems that our criminal justice system is facing is false confessions, whether they are coerced or done for attention. In an article written by the Innocence Project, it states "More than 1 out of every 4 people wrongfully convicted but later exonerated by DNA evidence made a false confession or incriminating statement. "(1). What would lead someone to open their lives to judgment and persecution, by confessing to a crime that they didn 't commit? There are many possible reasons, ranging from duress, ignorance when it comes to community laws, and mental impairment.
Part One is very informational and contains the bulk of the book’s research. The information was presented in a thesis format; Loftus stated a claim and then supported her ideas with research and quotations from experts in the field of law and memory. Part One is helpful for psychologists, attorneys, and interested law people. The major principles concerning the errors in eyewitness testimony are supported by research and are accepted by psychologists (Kassin, Ellsworth, & Smith, 1989). Part One will contribute to the future of psychology by showcasing how the memory works and the different ways it is manipulated and changed: this will allow jurors and lawyers to become more wary when dealing with a traumatized
Rhetorical Analysis of Mike Rose Emotional, ethical, and logical appeals are all methods used in writing to perused you one way or another on various topics. Mike Rose used all of these techniques in this essay, to show how student who are pushed aside, distracted, or fall behind and fail. In this essay Rose describes that students who have teachers who are unprepared, or incompetent majorly contribute to student failure. He is trying to show that many children have potential that is overlooked or sometimes even ignored, by authority.
Witnesses to crimes are sometimes asked to view a police lineup to see if they can identify the culprit. Using experimentally created events, psychological researchers have long warned that eyewitness identification evidence is less reliable than people seem to believe. Corroborating the concerns of psychologists, since the advent of forensic DNA testing in the 1990s, 258 people convicted by juries in the United States have been freed based on exculpatory DNA tests, and 200 of these were cases of mistaken eyewitness identification (Innocence Project, 2010). Examination of the reasons for these mistaken identifications has provided rich avenues of investigation guided by cognitive and social perspectives. Here we focus on (a) variables that
Taylor Scuorzo d Rhetorical Analysis 3/20/23 Rhetorical Analysis Doing benevolent and selfless things for others can occasionally lead to adverse results. In his enlightening and illuminating commencement address given at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 19, 2018, Jason Reynolds emotionally persuades and informs the graduates at the college through the use of anecdotes and metaphors to show that ignoring the significant problems of the world will not help us fix them. To strengthen his speech, Reynolds uses past personal experiences and the comparison of objects to others to help prove the theme portrayed throughout the speech.
9) The testimony of the woman who lived across the el tracks a) The woman testified that she witnessed the murder being committed through the window of her home and the moving el train while in bed. Juror Four recollected that the woman “‘went to bed at about eleven o’clock that night. Her bed was next to the window—and she could look out while lying down and see directly into the boy’s window across the tracks.
Pros and Cons of Eyewitness Testimony To see is to believe. For many years, we have relied so much on our sight to validate our perception and understanding of the world around us. But just how reliable are our eyes and how trustworthy is eyewitness testimony? Eyewitness testimony is any account provided by an eyewitness, a statement made under oath (sworn statement), which is either written on paper (affidavit) or done in court (court testimony).