Wrongful Convictions

Many Americans have the presupposition that the criminal justice system is fair and blind. Most assume that within the criminal justice system no individual shall ever be imprisoned for a crime he/she did not commit. The concept that a free citizen can be unjustly sentenced to imprisonment or executed by the government through its justice system does not seem to make sense to most citizens. Wrongful incarceration is terrifying. Every person living in the United States has the constitutional right to due process and a right to trial by a jury of choice. It is the role of the state to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the crime that they are being accused of committing. This system is meant to protect the innocent rather than get convictions. Children are told in school to trust and have faith in the criminal justice system since the innocent are protected and need not fear. Such guarantees make people believe that the criminal justice system is impartial and therefore only the guilty will have to pay for their sins. Regrettably, the judicial process sentences innocent people to imprisonment or execution due to eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, government misconduct, lousy lawyering and junk science among other causes.

The criminal justice system has been unable to guarantee the conviction of the guilty or the acquittal of the innocent. Various safeguards have been placed that make it hard to convict the innocent and acquit the guilty.

All that this system does is to guarantee a fair trial. However, a fair trial does not ensure the administration of justice since many citizens continue to pay the price due to wrongful convictions. Many people who are suffering in prisons, serving their terms or others who have served their terms have been forced to plead guilty to achieve freedom with probation or suspended sentences even though they are innocent. They are victims of the miscarriage of justice, and therefore a reasonable doubt exists as to whether they are guilty or innocent (Garrett, & Neufeld, 2009).

The criminal justice system delivers its mandate through three institutions, including the law enforcement officials, the court system, and the correctional systems. The law enforcement officials have the role of investigating crime and collecting the evidence to be used in identifying and prosecuting an offender. The case proceeds to the court system whose role is to look at the evidence presented to determine whether the offender is guilty of the crime or not. The court must prove that the offender is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Otherwise, her she is released for lack of evidence. If found guilty, the corrections systems use incarceration as well as probation to correct behavior or punish a person. It is, therefore, the role of a criminal justice system to do proper investigations to have enough evidence to prosecute criminals (Najdowski, 2011).

How the criminal justice works have contributed a lot to wrongful convictions. The police and other law enforcement officers do shoddy work, and this has contributed to the rising rates of innocent persons in prisons. The lack of sufficient evidence has sometimes forced the police to take several steps to ensure that a defendant is convicted despite weak evidence or even sound proof of innocence. Police misconduct has also led to the conviction of the innocent, especially the blacks and other minority populations. Stereotypes against the ethnic minorities have led to the significant rise in convicting innocent. According to Schwarzer (1980), eyewitness misidentification has been pointed as the most significant cause of wrongful convictions. The human mind does not record and keep evidence precisely as a person recorded it at a crime scene. Therefore, it is possible for evidence to be contaminated. Additionally, various forensic methods used lack scientific validation. These methods can be misleading and thus result in the conviction of the innocent. Additionally, forensic experts can also engage in misconduct and therefore intentionally produce misleading evidence that causes an innocent to suffer while the criminal walks free. Sometimes the judicial process is so stressful to the defendants making them make false statements by pleading guilty, making implicating statements or delivering downright confessions. False confessions have sometimes been seen by the defendant as beneficial rather than maintain their innocence since it can relieve them of stress, pain, time and money that is used during the interrogation process. Informers can also affect cases, especially when they are paid to make statements by other persons willing to see the defendant convicted. A jury may not be aware of this behavior leading to wrongful convictions. Additionally, lawyers are sometimes overworked in their duties to investigate, ensure that witnesses can testify and prepare for a trial leading to the prosecution of innocent individuals (Ericson & Baranek, 1982).

Judges are people who are considered to be impartial, compassionate, intelligent and possessing wisdom due to their ability to make judgments and decisions that ensure that justice prevails. However, the reality is different on the ground since they are human beings with various limitations that could make them make judgments that vindicate the innocent. Judges have been protected for a long time from serious scrutiny, even though they are the essential actors in making an innocent person being convicted or prosecuted. Judges try to maintain a public image of being independent and as persons who make their judgments by the law. On the contrary, judges are political beings, and their decisions can be influenced by powerful politicians leading to the conviction of innocent persons. Some of them have financial, personal and ideological interests which can hinder the delivery of justice. Due to their political and societal leaning, judges are expected to make the judgment that matches their roots. Political inclinations of state and federal judges have therefore led to the prosecution or conviction of innocent persons, and their innocence has gone unnoticed till they are released, dead or executed (Joy, 2006).

Wrongful convictions are not unlikely or surprising, especially to the poor black community. Daughters and sons, mothers and fathers, young and old have often been convicted in spite of their innocence due to discrimination and stereotypes by the law enforcement officials. The miscarriages of justice have affected citizens since it is difficult for them to trust such a system. The police ask for sexual favors from relatives of the defendant so that the charges against their loved ones can be dropped. If one does not comply, false evidence is presented leading to the prosecution of the innocent person. The blacks are not surprised when one of their own is wrongly convicted since it is a common occurrence (Brockman, 2010).
Based on Annie Dookhan scandal legal saga, prosecutors are a great hindrance to the delivery of justice. Prosecutors were against any efforts to allow those that are in prison on possibly suspect evidence to be freed until their cases were reviewed. They also argued that they had no responsibility of informing the convicted of probable innocence. It is not shocking that it took four years before the defendants were informed that their convictions could have been unfair. Additionally, the prosecutors confessed that most of the defendants were poor or had mental illness and therefore cared less about contesting convictions.

Research indicates that between one half and one percent of people convicted of murder and rape did not commit the crime. Additionally, according to Criminal Justice Research Centre is that about six thousand people are convicted of felonies each year. These studies reveal that it is not unlikely or surprising that persons who are wrongly convicted in the united states have increased tremendously. The integrity of the criminal justice system has been greatly affected by these convictions.

pproximately about 4000 persons have been exonerated between 1989 and 2003 proving their innocence. Between these years about 15 million people were convicted of felony across the country. These statistics were only obtained because murder and rape cases receive post-conviction Attention compared to the other felonies such as burglary, tax fraud, car theft and others. This situation means that the number of innocent persons convicted is high due to low post-conviction, attention that is given to such cases. Additionally, about 95% of people convicted of a felony, as an outcome of plea bargains, meaning that no formal evidence is presented and many of the defendants do not care to appeal (Green, 2005).

In conclusion, wrongful convictions have continued to rise, resulting in the punishment of the innocent while the offenders walk free. This situation has led to mistrust of the criminal justice system. It is necessary for the government to handle this problem before it damages the credibility of the criminal justice system.

References
Brockman, J. (2010). An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Pleading Guilty When Innocent. Crim. LQ, 56, 116.
Ericson, R. V. And Baranek, P (1982). The Ordering of Justice: A Study of Accused Persons as Dependants in the Criminal Process
Garrett, B. L., & Neufeld, P. J. (2009). Invalid forensic science testimony and wrongful convictions. Virginia Law Review, 1-97.
Green, M. (2005). Crown culture and wrongful convictions: A beginning. Criminal Reports, 29, 1-8.
Joy, P. A. (2006). Relationship between Prosecutorial Misconduct and Wrongful Convictions: Shaping Remedies for a Broken System. Wis. L. Rev., 399.
Najdowski, C. J. (2011). Stereotype threat in criminal interrogations: Why innocent Black suspects are at risk for confessing falsely. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 17(4), 562.
Schwarzer, W. W. (1980). Dealing with Incompetent Counsel: The Trial Judge’s Role. Harvard Law Review, 633-669.