Guilty In WHO'S Eyes??

Untitled Draft 04/29/2017 1:21 PM

What are wrongful convictions?

Wrongful convictions is when the courts makes a man serve time for a wrongdoing they didn't confer. However wrongful convictions don't start in the courts, the decision if proven guilty or not is decided by the evidence provided to the judge. Wrongful convictions are occurring all over the world, due to the fact of simple mistakes. The two main mistakes deal with DNA and false expert witnesses. While some cases don't have any DNA evidence against the defendant, despite everything they still convict them through other untrue reasons. The years that the wrongful convicted felons spend in prison varies by the degree of the charges. Some of these people are able to get out of prison, while others are still waiting on evidence to prove them innocent.

#1 Reason for wrongful convictions

The number one reason for wrongful convictions is eyewitness misidentification. Some of the eyewitness may not remember who they may have seen during the crime. While some may just assume that they saw a certain person. A problem with misidentification happens during lineup at the police station also. Sometimes the police may say that the suspect may be in the lineup, so the witness feels like they have to chose a person from the group. This leads the investigators to focus on the wrong suspect and let the person that commited the crime get away.

#2 Reason For Wrongful Convictions

The second reason for wrongful convictions have to do with DNA errors or lack of DNA evidence. There are large areas for mistakes dealing with testing the DNA. The main error is misreading the results of the evidence. Some of the cases that I have read about dealt with the forensic science team misreading evidence that proved the suggested suspect guilty. It turned out, when they looked at the result that the people’s DNA did not match the evidence that was tested. The problem with this is that, they don't realize they have made this mistake until it's too late.

Payouts

Due to the fact that these innocent people had to suffer in prison for something that they didn't do are offered compensation. The amount of money that the person gets back varies on how long they were in prison and how high of a charge it was. For some reason everyone is not able to receive money when they are wrongfully convicted. The money that some of the people receives comes from the taxpayers and that is becoming a problem for the states. Wrongful convictions tend to be happening more throughout the years and it is causing the taxpayers millions of dollars that could be used to improve the communities.

Adjusting to the Real World

It would be relatively hard for someone, either in prison for something they did or something they didn't do, to readjust to the real world. The place that we live in is steady changing. Technology is steady improving, and if you aren't around it often it would be hard for you to know how to work it. These people will be behind on everything and they wouldn't know how to fit in anymore. Their only mindset is trying to survive, since that's what they did in prison. When held in prison for so long you start to think and behave differently than you normally would, and that will have an effect on how you act once you are freed.

Effects of the Innocent

While incarcerated for someone else's wrongdoings can have a huge impact upon your life. You will miss out on holiday, family event, good and bad news, and also births and deaths. These innocent people do not deserve to miss out on their life and their family members lives. I feel like this will cause them to have many mental disabilities that will affect their life negatively. In some cases many prisoners kill themselves while incarcerated because they can't deal with the things that are happening around them. There was another instance when an innocent man was released from prison and he ended up committing suicide.

Way #1 to Reduce Wrongful Convictions

One way to reduce wrongful convictions is to test DNA more than once. Since DNA samples is the primary issue to wrongful convictions we should focus on it more. These scientists tend to be misreading their evidence. They should view their evidence very carefully. Also more than one person should have the final say so on the results. When more than one person views the evidence it lessens the room for simple mistakes. Despite the fact that testing tests more than once might be expensive, it will be justified, despite all the trouble at end.

Way #2 to Reduce Wrongful Convictions

Another way to reduce the amount of wrongful convictions is by communicating more with the eye witness. They can ask them more question to make sure that they are clear on who they saw commit the crime. By them communicating with the witness more the witness can feel more comfortable talking to them. With them being comfortable talking, it would be easier for the witness to tell the truth saying that they don't really remember who they saw. This can work during line up also, the witness may want to just pick a person that looks familiar because the office said that the suspect may be in the room.