In The Farm: Angola, documentary filmmakers Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus follow the lives of six prisoners in a maximum-security state penitentiary in Louisiana. Known as 'The Farm ' because it has fertile soil for crops and was once a former plantation where slaves worked its 18,000 acres-slaves from Angola, Africa. Of the six prisoners mentioned in the film, I felt the most compassion for Eugene ‘Bishop’ Tannehill, an elderly inmate who preaches eternal salvation as he awaits a parole that never comes. I also felt the least compassion for Vincent Simmons, accused of raping two women, but he says he didn 't commit the crimes. Later down the road, Wilbert Rideau lectured as the advocate for the reform of the criminal justice system and against the death penalty.
At the age of 16 years old Alonza Thomas, a typical teenage boy, was given a 13 year sentence for second degree armed robbery. It all started when he ran away from home; his mother was upset with him so he left to avoid dealing with the problem. He met someone while trying to find a place to stay and he offered him a place to sleep and some hot food. When Alonza had finally decided it was time for him to go home and face his mother, they demanded that he repay them somehow. They held him at gun point, making it apparent that they weren’t going to back down if he went against what they wanted. The repayment came in the form of a job, the robbery that ended up sending him to an adult prison. Alonza Thomas stated how they had made him feel that he had choice, “he came back out with a gun. And he said, “You think you’re gonna eat my food for free? Live in my house and just walk out? And things that come free like that? No, nothing’s free.” He said, “No, you’re gonna have to rob this store.””
Say the SWAT team came breaking down your door and force handcuffs on you, what would you do? This very thing happened to Cornilius Anderson otherwise known as "Mike Anderson," performed an armed robbery and was supposed to be booked into jail when the state never came to pick him up to be sent to prison. Thirteen years had passed when he was gone out of his cell, when the state came to release him. Mike was a good man, he became a law abiding citizen. He payed his taxes, got married and coached one of his son 's football team, he also was an entrepreneur for a new job. Mike was surprised the SWAT team came to his house and put handcuffs on him when the police asked, where were you thirteen years ago. Mike realised that he had performed an armed
At the age of 19, Gregory Parsons life took a dramatic turn by a shocking miscarriage of justice. On February 15, 1994, he was convicted in Newfoundland, of the second-degree murder of his mother Catherine Carroll, and was sentenced to life in prison with no chsnce of parole for 15 years. Parsons’ conviction was based on circumstantial evidence, and his case was closed by the Crown prosecutor just by simply asking the jury,”If Greg Parsons didn’t cause his mother’s death[,] who did?”
For the Application of the Criminal Justice System project of the Criminal Justice course, I chose the arrest of John Burke. This case is about the arrest and sentencing of John Burke who had shot and killed Joseph Ronan. Twenty-five year old John Burke agreed to meet with 22 year old Joseph Ronan at Ronans home, in Reading, Massachusetts on Monday, August 15, 2011 around 1pm, with the intent of purchasing Percocet pills. (Boston.com, 2013) However, shortly after entering Ronans home, Burke opened fire (News, 2011), and after shooting Joseph Ronan several times, with the belief that Ronan was involved in a robbery at Burkes apartment in April 2011 (Boston.com, 2013), fled the home. Ronans grandfather (Daniel, 2011), who had been in the home
In the movie The Shawshank Redemption the experiences of a formerly successful banker as a prisoner in the gloomy jailhouse of Shawshank after being found guilty of a crime he did not commited. Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sent to Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and her secret lover.[1]
As a young african american male, I’ve encountered many challenges and obstacles that has been tough to overcome for any male; especially male of color. Novelist Jennifer Gonnerman shared one forth of what African American males go through on a day to day basis, in her article, “Before the Law,” that sheds light on a particular incident about a kid from Bronx named Kalief Browder; who was falsely accused of taking a backpack from a New York resident on the day of Saturday, May 15, 2010. Kalief Browder spent the next two to three years confined in Rikers Island (Correctional Facility), which is a four-hundred-acre island in the EastRiver, between Queens and the Bronx. Kalief Browder was being charged with many charges such as robbery, grand
October 2nd, 2002 was the start of a long and horrific three weeks in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. People were terrified to be in the area and everyone was on edge. What appeared to be random killings, turned out to be a well-organized series of senseless shootings that took the lives of ten innocent people. After days of people being scared to death and much confusion, investigators discovered that there were two suspects in the shootings; John Allen Muhammad and his teenage partner Lee Boyd Malvo and they were in a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan designed to terrorize people. This break in the case came when one of the suspects called the tip hotline and told them to look into a murder in Alabama, which lead to the case being
He takes a step in the ring dodges the hits. He dodges one last time and throws a punch straight to the jaw. Jack Johnson is the winner of the match. Boxing is what this Black Heavy weight champion is known for. It started way back in March 31, 1878 John Arthur Johnson was born to Henry and Tina Johnson. He grew up in Galveston, Texas with his eight other siblings. Even though his name is John he goes by the name of Jack or his nickname Galveston Giant. Jonson grew up not knowing there was a superior skin color. Him and his white friends would play together, eat together, and stay at each other’s houses.
In her book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander who was a civil rights lawyer and legal scholar, reveals many of America’s harsh truths regarding race within the criminal justice system. Though the Jim Crow laws have long been abolished, a new form has surfaced, a contemporary system of racial control through mass incarceration. In this book, mass incarceration not only refers to the criminal justice system, but also a bigger picture, which controls criminals both in and out of prison through laws, rules, policies and customs. The New Jim Crow that Alexander speaks of has redesigned the racial caste system, by putting millions of mainly blacks, as well as Hispanics and some whites, behind bars
Kalief Browder was arrested in 2010, at the age of 16, as he was headed home in the Bronx. Mr. Browder would be, accused of, and charged with robbery –and given a bail of $3,000. Unable to make bail, Mr. Browder languished in Riker’s Island for 3 years –never receiving a trial. After those 3 long years – filled with abuse from inmates and guards alike, after nearly 800 days of solitary confinement, after over 30 hearings, and after numerous postponements, the charges against Mr. Browder would be dropped and
Albert W. Florence, the petitioner in this case, was initially arrested in 1998 and charged with use of a deadly weapon and obstruction of justice (Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, Opinion, I). He pled guilty to two lesser counts and was ordered to make monthly payments to cover his fine. However, as stated in the Opinion of the Court, he did not keep up with his payments, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2003. Florence paid the rest of his fine only days later. However, when he and his wife were pulled over in Burlington County, New Jersey, in 2005, the state trooper’s computer system still had Florence’s warrant, so he arrested and transported him to Burlington County Detention Center. However, as noted in the majority opinion, the arrest itself was not the cause of the case.
They have become alienated by society, and are strangers to their friends and family. The psychological impact of incarcerating an innocent or undeserving individual can be detrimental. Post-victimization disorders such as post acute stress disorder and PTSD can cause emotional detachment, despair, hostility, and increased risk of various phobias (Polifroni, 2018). Unwarranted subjectivity to extreme punishment and condemnation leaves victims with a host of potential social, emotional, and psychological deficits including distrust, dependance on institutions, diminished self-worth, post-traumatic stress reactions and more (Haney, 2002). The process of being incarcerated brings about several psychological adaptations, brought about by the extreme demands of living in prison. Even after release, the counterproductive, deeply internalized patterns learned in prison are still present (Haney, 2002). In addition, the rate of incarceration of mentally ill individuals is alarming. Suspects will mental and developmental disorders are often unfairly sent to prison without regard to their conditions, leaving them helpless. Mentally ill inmates have an even more difficult time adjusting to life in prison, leaving them at an even higher risk for psychological
Have you ever imagined growing up on a life of drugs, war, crime, and seeing things that many adults won’t dare to ever see? In many countries around the world, this is what many children have to deal with. There is an occurring issue of people across Africa and parts of Asia using children as soldiers in war. They act and take upon the roles of real combatants, causing the people of the public to act in different ways. It’s been well documented that these children have used guns and war tactics, and committed various illegal and illicit acts of violence. However, what they’ve done doesn 't come with the fact that child soldiers live with rugged conditions, drugs, the influence of others. Even though some people believe that child soldier’s shouldn’t be given amnesty, overall, it becomes clear that these children should be given amnesty because many adults influence their actions, they live in inferior conditions, and children who enlist as child soldiers enlist for multiple reasons other than violence.
Wrongful convictions are one of the most worrisome and tragic downsides to the Canadian Criminal Justice System. As stated by Campbell & Denov (2016). “cases of wrongful convictions in Canada call into question the ability of our criminal justice system to distinguish between the guilty and innocence” (p. 226). In addition, wrongful convictions can have devastating repercussions on the person, who was found guilty, effecting their personal/public identities, beliefs and family lives. This essay will be examine some of the common factors that apply to the conviction of an innocence person. Also, whether the CJS is doing enough to inhibit wrongful convictions and finally, the problems that parole can cause for a person maintaining their innocence.