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Wrongful convictions in the court system
Wrongful convictions in the court system
Wrongful convictions in the court system
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Stakeholders In any wrongful conviction, there would be some groups and parties received major impacts from the consequences. The victim, or the individual who was accused wrongly, is the one that under many effects. Turn back to the case of Carrillo, it can be seen that he had not finished high school by the time he was convicted of being the murderer. He spent his 19 years of youth behind the bars, has not had a chance to take care of his pregnant girlfriend; he did not have a chance to take care of his son during his grown-up period; he did not have a chance to enjoy his own life like any of his friends. After being free, Carrillo desires to take a shower and enjoy with his friends before continuing living freely later on (Daily Mail Reporter, 2011). In Carrillo case, at least, he is still alive, and can start his life again at the age of 37; however, some cases cannot be undone. For …show more content…
While one of the family members was in the prison, the rest of the family may have to deal with the financial issue and emotional deprivation. According to the Department of Justice in Canada (2015), they illustrate the circumstance of the victim, Jason, whose family was struggling during the period he was in the prison for things that he did not do (Loss and Effects on Family, para. 3). He states: [My wife] she was left living with the reality of being single, with four children, a mortgage, hydro, the groceries and other accoutrements that go with having four young children: one in school, needing to work, needing to deal with babysitters and, oh yeah, my husband 's in prison. Those victims’ families like Jason’s have to conceal their emotion as well as carry the burden of the financial issue, which even later on when the true culprit is revealed, those periods still endure as a scar that could never be erased. Debates and
Murray, J. (2005). The effects of imprisonment on families and children of prisoners Retrieved from http://www2.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file77089.pdf
When people are in prison, they cannot support their families. Inmates also can’t spend time with their family and their sons or daughters might turn towards crime. When families are split up, the offender’s family is less likely to succeed in the community. This might be because the remaining parent might not be able to handle all the pressure. The remaining parent might also not have a good job that can support the family so they will be in poverty.
Throughout the entire film, viewers can witness how Steven Avery is being poorly treated because of his socioeconomic status, and the fact that he is different from everyone in the Manitowoc County. Steven was lied on, picked on, and accused of committing a crime he did not commit, all because he was looked down upon and viewed as being less of a person than everyone else in the community. Watching this episode invokes an emotion that is prevalent today with our justice system. Many minorities are falsely accused and falsely imprisoned due to personal vendettas from private citizens or members of the law enforcement. Others are disfranchised due to their socioeconomic status. Ultimately, there are numerous innocent men and women serving life sentences and are on death row for crimes they did not commit. As an illustration, in the year of 2007, Davontae Sanford, who was just 14 years old at the time, was wrongfully convicted of murdering four people and sentenced 90 years in prison. Sandford was an individual a part of the lower social class, coming from a rough part of Detroit, he was a victim of poverty. He stated how he was such a naïve kid and was coerced by detectives and his defense attorney to confess and plead guilty to murders he did not commit. Sanford told how his attorney commented, “you’re a black kid from the ghetto; these white people from the suburbs are gonna come in here and they’re gonna find you guilty.” He was exonerated June of 2016 after the real offender came forward and denied Sanford’s involvement in the murder. What is exposed as this bigger picture is how the criminal justice system is corrupted, being prejudice and stereotyping individuals based on their socioeconomic status is how the system seems to incarcerate people and sad to say,
The film After Innocence, was a compelling documentary after watching it. It “tells the dramatic and compelling story of the exonerated - innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA evidence proved their innocence. The film focuses on the gripping story of seven men and their emotional journey back into society and efforts to rebuild their lives. Included are a police officer, an army sergeant and a young father sent to prison and even death row for decades for crimes they did not commit” (After Innocence, About the Film, Para 1). These men had to endure agony and suffering from being remove from society. By the criminal justice system locking these men away they suffer from emotional and psychological trauma.
The worst thing in life is paying for another man's mistake. Sadly, this is something that occurs frequently. After watching a video about the wrongful conviction and the imprisonment of Ronald Cotton, I was baffled. I find it absurd that an innocent person can lose their freedom for a crime that they were not involved in. Ronald Cotton is not the only unfortunate individual who has endured wrongful imprisonment. Bennet Barbour, James Bain, and many others have been convicted of crimes that they did not commit due to faulty eyewitness testimonies.
The article titled “Growing up in Prison” by Elizabeth Calvin was published in the Los Angeles Times on January 13 2014. It discusses the case of Eden Gonzalez who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of sixteen. Gonzales sentence was punitive owing to the lack of parole for the entire sentence. This is because the inmate tried to steal a car in the company of two adults, but a murder occurred in the course of the crime. It is notable that Gonzales was sentenced to a life imprisonment despite the fact that he did not kill. In an online article by Ashley Hayes, the author discusses the case of Ethan Couch who was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.24. The judge ruled for Couch to serve ten-year probation despite the fact that Couch killed. This paper argues that even though the law promotes a fair society, a person’s economic status can influence their jail sentence. Is also opposes life imprisonment without parole for children.
When prisoners are released from prison they rely on their family members as much as they can when they are first released. Supported by Annie Casey she stated “Two months after their release, a strong majority of released prisoners in Maryland (80%) and Illinois (88%) were living with a family member.” This statement can conclude that when prisoners are released from incarceration they are heavily reliable on their families for financial support. There is a difference of who the prisoner lives with when returning home and it can effect whether the prisoner returns to prison when Casey states, “Studies [conclude] that men that end up living with wives and children [happen to do] better than those who either lived alone or returned to live with a parent (Casey 1).” This statement proves that when men return home they have a better chance of staying out of trouble when they live with their wife and child compared to living alone or with a parent; but why is that? I believe that when spouses and children are present in the household the prisoner feels obligated to take care of them and support them when they return compared to living with parents the person may slip into bad habits because they are only going to have to look after themselves instead of taking care of a
...s A. Preciado, but despite these wrong decisions being made by juveniles, they deserve a second chance to better themselves as potential future citizens. Even Gail garinger who was a former juvenile judge believes that they are capable such manner, In her article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences” written March 14, 2012 and published by New York Times, it states that “as a former juvenile court judge, I have seen firsthand the enormous capacity of children to change and turn themselves around. The same malleability that makes them vulnerable to peer pressure also makes them promising candidates for rehabilitation”. I believe, and still do, that even though juveniles that have taken a wrong path, regardless of what they 've done, need guidance from us and people who were once juveniles to mentor them and be given a second chance, just as I did a long time ago.
Throughout the entire film, viewers can witness how Steven Avery is being poorly treated because of his socioeconomic status, and the fact that he is different from everyone in the Manitowoc County. Steven was lied on, picked on, and accused of committing a crime he did not commit, all because he was looked down upon and viewed as being less of a person than everyone else in the community. Watching this episode invokes an emotion that is prevalent today with our justice system. Many minorities are falsely accused and falsely imprisoned due to personal vendettas from private citizens or members of the law enforcement. Many are disfranchised due to their socioeconomic status. There are many innocent men and women serving life sentences and on death row for crimes they did not commit. In the year of 2007, Devontae Sanford, who was just 14 years old at the time, was wrongfully convicted of a crime and sentenced 90 years in
Wrongful convictions in Canada is a very sensitive and disturbing topic that has created concerns as to why individuals are being wrongfully convicted. As people in Canada read about cases involving wrongful conviction, such as Guy Paul Morin, Rubin Carter and David Millguard, it often undermines their faith in the criminal justice system. Tunnel vision, the use of questionable DNA evidence, and eyewitness misidentification are the three main causes of wrongful convictions in Canada. Recognizing and addressing these concerns has led to a reduction in cases of wrongful convictions in Canada.
“Although nearly 90% of children remain with their mothers when fathers go to prison, grandparents usually care for children when mothers are incarcerated” (Johnson & Waldfogel, 2002; Snell, 1994 as cited in; Poehlmann). This shows that the family structure is more drastically upset when the mother is imprisoned versus the father. This also shows that just losing one parent while staying in the same environment is easier to self-adjust back into equilibrium than it is to fully change and integrate into another household. While the mother is in prison, the child is now in the care of someone else and where that child is, is crucial to their development. This explains that a disrupt in family structure can impact a child’s skills that are necessary to a positive development, such as reading and math skills and the ability to focus in class to learn. Emily Durkheim’s structural functionalism theory can be used to further explain this topic. A child’s family is an organism, no matter that typicality of it’s makeup. Every person has a role in the structure and when a mother is incarcerated that disrupts the system and the children are moved into a new structure, the process towards equilibrium can be tough and in some cases detrimental to their development as they are exposed to more intellectual
Maternal incarceration makes up just ten percent of all parental incarceration in America (Wright and Seymour 9). Although they are smaller in number, studies have shown that children whose mothers are serving time in jail or prison are more severely affected than children whose fathers are incarcerated (Parke and Clarke-Stewart 2). Mothers were most likely their children’s primary guardian and caregiver before their sentence, while many fathers in prison were not present in their children’s lives even before they were arrested(Parke and Clarke-Stewart 2). The loss of a father that they never knew does not seem to disrupt a child’s life as much as the loss of a mother does.
Children experience parental incarceration under many differing circumstances and behavioral effects vary according to which parent was incarcerated, prior living arrangements, the quality of parent-child relationships before incarceration, the child’s age at the time of incarceration, the nature and length of the sentence, alternative care arrangements, contact with the incarcerated parent, and how other family members cope with the event (Murray, et al. 2012). Because the circumstances of parental incarceration are varied, the attitudes and behavior of children varies as well. Mike Hubbard, District Judge for Polk County, discussed that when a family member is awaiting sentencing it is more likely that he looks at how the family can support the offender, not how the offender helps support the family. While this makes sense for the best interest of the offender to be rehabilitated successfully, if the family life isn’t conducive for...
For instance, juveniles do not deserve life sentences because their brain isn’t fully developed yet and lack awareness of their actions. In the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Paul Thompson, he explains the development of the brain and how in some situations the brain isn’t ready and it can affect the person. This effect in divergent ways; psychologically and emotionally. Thompson's article introduces the case of Nathaniel Brazill, at age 14, charged with second degree murder, trial as an adult and sentenced to life in prison without parole. After some serious research, it has shown that as many other juveniles who have committed a crime they are “far from adulthood”.
...child. I had no choice but to shape up and make a way for the both of us. Having a child made me realize that life is not all fun and games as my mother would say. I learned that in life there are responsibilities. I truly believe that had I not had a child at an early age, I would still be a wild absentminded party girl and who knows what else may have happened.