Saturday, September 21, 2019
The Innocence Commission Essay Example for Free
The Innocence Commission Essay Introduction:            Criminal justice in most of the judicial bodies should be based on truth and fairness in order to give a rightful conviction. Effectiveness of criminal justice is portrayed by their ability to identify offender after thorough investigations are carried out so that one can be sure that the person being accused of offence is truly guilty. Fairness is reached when there is enough evidence given at all points, there is legal representation of prongs in criminal justice which are undermined by wrongful conviction. Wrongful conviction makes one to face torture or punishment for the mistake that he or she did not commit and the one who has actually committed crime finally goes free. Causes of wrongful conviction            There are quite a number of issues which cause wrongful conviction to individuals who are innocent. Wrongful conviction results to someone being arrested for crime which he or she has not committed. Wrongful conviction can be caused by:- Government mis-conduct Junk science False confession Government mis-conduct.            Wrongful conviction can be facilitated by misconducts by the government. This is evidenced when police use their powers excessively to deal with a crime which they are not fully aware of its cause. In this case individuals are convicted for their honest mistake that they make. They are usually convicted and no evidence is used to show that they have committed that mistake. In other cases weak evidence are portrayed but they do not show or indicate that, that particular person has committed that crime. Corruption in police force and in various judicial bodies has lead to wrongful conviction of individuals who have not committed crime. In most cases the accused can be judged wrongfully when the accuser give bribe to the police or judge who in return does no listen or take evidence from the accused and therefore he or she ends up being confirmed guilty of the mistake which he or she did not commit.  Mistaken identity can be another factor that can facilitate government mis-conduct. This happens when police do not take time to get enough details of the person that they are supposed to arrest and therefore they end up arresting someone similar to the one who committed the crime (DPIC. 2008). In other cases, people can bear the same name and when police are investigating on the crime, they do not take time to know the exact person they are supposed to arrest. In resent days, government mis-conduct has remained as one of the major cause wrongful conviction in most individuals who fails victims of wrongful conviction. Junk science            In confirming an individual who has committed crime, various scientific studies can be carried out by trained experts. These studies help to reveal the identity of the one who committed crime. When the evidence of identifying the person is mis-handled or unqualified individuals are used to carry out the research, wrongful conviction can occur since the pure identity of the one committed crime is not revealed and this can else show identity of another individual. Evidence is usually collected at the scene of crime and when its not handled accurately it can be mis-handled or labeling exchanged which end up giving false results in regard to crime. The task should be carried out by experienced individual who are fully trained so that reliable results in regard to the one who committed crime are produced. This however, can be possible by ensuring that there is quality control and assurance when conducting the laboratory procedures. Therefore in carrying out scientific study to help in determining the one who committed crime, care need to be taken so that the evidence is handled correctly to give reliable results which would not result in wrongful conviction. False confession.            In most cases, wrongful conviction has been caused by false confessions. False confession can come about when the one confessing or giving evidence of the crime is mentally ill. Mental illness can make someone to confess on a crime which he or she has not committed or if the mentally ill person is giving evidence he or she can give wrong allegations concerning the accused. In other cases, police can use force and torture to individual to force someone to confess crimes which they have not committed. Police can false individual to give evidence after torturing individuals who finally gives up and decide to give wrong evidence out of torture that they get. Individual can be tortured also to give wrong allegations on someone else who has been convicted wrongfully (Holligan, 2003). These wrong evidences consequently results to convicting individuals wrongfully. During conviction of individuals, correct evidence should be gathered from mentally fit individual and police should not be allowed to torture individuals to give evidence in regard to crime and therefore they should be left to give evidence freely.            Court should come up with various ways to ensure that cases of wrongful conviction are fully eliminated or they are reduced to minimum level to help those individuals who suffer greatly in prison while they are innocent as a result of being convicted wrongfully. The court has established various ways of ensuring that the problem is dealt with accordingly. This ways include: The court should first establish the main causes of wrongful convictions. Court should carry out research on these causes so as to ensure that they are dealt with fully. The court should review cases so that they can have better understanding of wrongful conviction. Appropriate constituent should ensure that they have the best practice. Issues of systematic level in examination of wrongful conviction should be examined. This can be enhanced when court get involved in commission which will ensure that all the above is addressed and the issues of wrongful conviction are reduced.            The court before giving their final ruling on the one who committed crime, the magistrates should first ensure that they are aware of the many causes of wrongful conviction so that they can establish them and understand them fully before giving their judgment on crime. By being aware of these causes, the courts ensure that judgments are not based on unreliable evidence and therefore judgment should always be based on reliable evidence (Sprouts, 2005). This evidence should be given forth by reliable individual who can be fully trusted of evidence that they produce in court to help in ruling of the convicted individual.            Before giving out ruling, the court should ensure that it has carried out reliable research so that they can deal with cases which are brought forth rightfully (Rosen, 1992). These researches will help to establish whether the evidence collected is reliable. Research such as cause and result of wrongful conviction should be carried out so that the court can understand the torture that those who are convicted wrongly undergo. Therefore, by carrying out various researches, the court can finally be able to always give the rightful conviction.            Another way of reducing these wrongful conviction the court need to review various cases which have been wrongfully convicted so that they can evaluate the cause of those cases and come up with measures of ensuring that they are finally resolved. Best practices should be carried out by the court to ensure that those cases that they handle and the evidence that they use in ruling are reliable so that they can avoid unreliable sources which will cause wrongful conviction of individuals. Such practices includes, using experienced experts to gather enough information in regard to the crime being investigated.            Systemic levels of examining various cases should be enhanced by court which will help the court to follow the case step by step so that the ruling given is the right one. Step by step follow up of cases can give reliable results to base judgment on. These systemic orders should be carried out by the court from the time the crime is committed and the scene of crime, to collection and presentation of evidence to the court by reliable individual. When these are followed, reliable evidence is finally gathered which prevents wrongful conviction.            There are quite a number of individuals who were convicted wrongly in and faced trial of crimes that they did not commit. One of the outstanding examples of an individual who was wrongfully convicted is David Milgaard who was wrongfully charged of raping Gail Miller out of false confession. Out of pressure and continued intellogation by the police, David’s finally changed the truth concerning the evidence they had in regard to the crime until it took to the version of police which lead to arrest of David. All the witnesses who were called upon to give testimony in regard to David were intimidated by the police who made them to give wrong information. After going through torture, the witness had to give information which pleased the police so that they could use it to file charges on David for crime which he had not committed. David tried to persuade the court but no one could listen to him since they believed that they had enough evidence. But after a lot of effort which was employed by David and the family, they finally managed to get reliable evidence out of DNA testing which they used to prove that David did not actually commit that crime. According to federal government, they compensated David for being convicted wrongfully. In this case, torture should not be used to get evidence and reliable evidence should be used before convicting an individual.            Another victim of wrongful conviction is Richard Alexander who was accused falsely of four rape cases after the statement which was released by the victim. After DNA study was carried out, it did not show him as the suspect of the case but the victim confessed that he was the one who committed that crime. During his stay in court, investigators were convinced that he is guilty since there are more rape cases which occurred when he was in custody. This enabled him to prove himself innocent since the other three cases mentioned him but by that time he was in police custody.            Another individual who was wrongfully convicted was Alan Crotzer who was sent to prison in 1982. Alan was convicted of being among the three men accused of robbing white occupants in their apartment in Timpa and rapped a woman and a child (Wickham, 2007). They were accused of sexually assaulting them and leaving them tied to a tree. Crotzer was arrested since his picture was picked at the scene of crime. Crotzer was convicted wrongful and sentenced for a period of 130 years. He was behind bars for 24 years but after DNA test was carried out he was finally released and proved innocent.            Therefore, in conclusion, wrongful conviction has caused many innocent individuals to suffer for mistake committed by other individuals who finally goes free. For fairness to be reached, the court should ensure that investigation and reliable evidence are used to determine the one who has actually committed the crime. Wrongful conviction results to torture and should be minimized and avoided at all levels. Reference: Rosen P. (1992). Wrongful conviction in Criminal Justice. Retrieved from: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp285-e.htm Wickham D. (2007). Wrongfully convicted man. Retrieved from: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/05/wrongly_convict.html Sprouts M. (2005). Swanns way. United State: Barne and Noble Holligan B. (2003). Adventure and Law and Justice. Sydney: UNSW DPIC. (2008). Causes of Wrongful Conviction. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/user/Desktop/Causes%20of%20Wrongful%20Convictions.htm
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