Manufacturing Guilt Wrongful Convictions in Canada, follows the theme of the first edition where the authors demonstrate what leads to wrongful conviction. We all know that innocent mistakes happen however, wrongful convictions are usually the result of deliberate actions of those working in the criminal justice system and not unintended errors. By using Canadian cases as miscarriages of justice, the authors argues that understanding wrongful convictions and how to prevent them is incomplete outside the broader societal context in which they occur, particularly regarding racial and social inequality. This book also analyzes how forensic science is used as a resource for prosecutors rather than seeking the truth. What is miscarriage of justice?
However, the main contributing cause to his wrongful conviction was eyewitness misidentification. According to Walker (2015), eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions with “72% of cases being wrongfully convicted based on eye witness testimony.” Another thing I noticed while looking at The Innocence Project, which was also discussed in the book, was racial bias. In the book, they mentioned “wrongful convictions involve a strong racial disparity, with 62 percent of the Innocent Projects 302 cases involving African Americans.”
Misjudgements can lead to people paying for crimes they did not commit. And why is that? So “justice”
While it is true innocent people have been exonerated while on death row and some may have even been executed, new technology provides greater evidence to proof either one’s guilty or innocent ( “Wrongful Convictions Overturned in Death Penalty Cases Due to Advances in DNA Testing”). The advancement in DNA testing allows future cases and past cases to obtain justice, ensuring that the innocent will not have to worry of wrongful convictions and victims families can gain closure. There are other factors that can tie into wrongful convictions these are the jurys, courts, and police. Bias based on race or religion does occur, prosecutors have been found to sometimes target individuals using the death penalty as a trophy to show off (“Wrongfully Convicted Louisiana Man Asks Justice Department to Investigate New Orleans Prosecutors”). In 2010 exonerations for black males were 71, higher than white males which were 53 (“Capital Punishment: Cruel and Unusual?”).
There has been many cases of people getting put in jail for crimes they did not commit. There has also been many cases where these innocent people lose years of their life in prison for it. Some of these people who were put in jail innocent fought through it and had hope and one day were proven innocent and set free. Ari Melber, a publisher for NBC News states that: ‘’In 2017 around 149 people spent and average of 15 years in prison’’ (Jailed). This number is only going to get worse if our current legal system doesn't do anything to fix it.
The justice system has completely failed us. Many young men and women are incarcerated for years or their whole life for the wrong reasons. Some kids are charged as adult for a crime they commited which means they murdered someone or worse. Study found that some 10,000 children are housed in adult jails and they’re five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than
However, today’s review of capital punishment cases by both state and federal courts makes such a bias highly unlikely. The compounded effects of only considering cases with incriminating evidence
Juveniles Need Help Twenty-five percent of all serious violent crimes involve at least one juvenile offender. Juveniles arrest have been incrementing over the years and there has been a debate on whether or not juveniles should get life sentence or not. There has also been 200,000 juveniles who enter adult criminal justice, these children face their actions on prisons with people who are way older than them and get sentenced for life. Youth should not get sentenced for life because children are still trying to deal with their identity, don’t have the mental ability and juveniles have no responsibility. In Addition the different perspectives presented by the Supreme Court argues that juveniles who commit murder should not be sentenced to life because it violates the 8th amendment.
The situation gets worse if he is denied bail during pendency of trial or appeal. He remains in jail for years until the trial or appeal gets concluded. Even if at the end the accused gets acquitted, an irreparable damage gets caused to his reputation, physical and mental health and his family. On the other hand, if an accused is guilty in fact, the victim of that crime suffers grossly. Delay in recording of victim’s statement, harsh and humiliating cross-examinations by defence, manipulation of facts and award of lesser punishment on ground of delay causes injustice to victim.
In the article it shows that it was at times that there were innocent people waiting to be executed even though they were innocent and were lucky that evidence of their innocence emerged if it didn't they would have be executed. “Since 1973, 144 people on death row have been exonerated. As a percentage of all death sentences, that's just 1.6 percent. But if the innocence rate is 4.1 percent, more than twice the rate of exoneration... an untold number of innocent people have been executed...”(One in 25 sentenced to death in the U.S. is innocent, study claim). It is a small chance of getting executed even if innocent that is why the death penalty should be illegal in the