...nothing quite as convincing to a jury in a court of law than infallible, concrete evidence, however, this type of evidence is not always readily available at a crime scene. It is often necessary to look to other sources, such as an eyewitness, to help settle a trial (Smarlarz & Wells, 2014). This can be problematic due to a number of reasons, the first being that eyewitness testimonies have been increasingly proven, such as through DNA evidence, that the defendant is often misidentified (Innocence Project, 2014). There has been abundant research conducted into false identifications and studies have found, due to numerous reasons including age, bias, gender, cognitive ability and current state, that error rates tend to be quite high...
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...many different reasons why the reliability of eyewitness testimony in the United States judicial system today is all but flawed. There is only one way a witness can identify a suspect who has committed a crime, and it is called face to face recognition. Just getting a glimpse, bad weather, and bad lighting can hinder what a person can truly see. There have been several accounts of individuals that have been convicted, imprisoned, and put to death off of flawed testimonies by an eyewitness. In this I will attempt to show you my discussions of several statistics, convictions, exonerations, and key cases that will test the views of anyone when eyewitness testimonies are concerned. Within the past 30 years crimes were committed, and the people who witness these crimes made the cases have different outcomes. It used to be when a crime was committed, and someone came forward saying, “They have witnessed a crime”. History shows us when it comes to a traumatic experience dealing with crimes; the victims are different and as such react in many different ways. Most individuals panic, some are very calm, while others have no reaction whatsoever. The question has been raised about how reliable an eyewitness testimony truly is. Those who follow crime and courts trials know the stories are familiar and unnerving. Here is one case Cornelius Dupree spent 30 years Texas prison due to a 1979 rape and robbery he did not commit, because of one eyewitness. Cornelius was freed in 2011 through new DNA...
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...Research on DNA Forensics 1. Is DNA evidence perfect? 2. Should every prisoner have the right to reopen his or her case for DNA testing? Follow-Up Questions • Who should decide who does and does not have the right to reopen a case? • Who should pay for the testing? • How is the credibility of our legal system affected by the fact that numerous people have been convicted and then exonerated of a crime? 3. Would you vote to convict a person of a crime based solely on DNA evidence? Follow-Up Questions • Would you be more or less comfortable with convicting a person of a crime based solely on DNA evidence than with convicting a person based on eyewitness testimony? • Other than scientific evidence, what else might influence the decision of a jury? • If the case were heard by a technology-savvy jury, would the verdict have been different? • If the memories of an eyewitness are open to contamination, how can we trust what honest people see? • Should eyewitnesses that wrongly implicate a person for a crime be held accountable for damages? • Should a wrongly convicted person seek damages and restitution? What would be the implications for our legal system? • How does the questionable nature of eyewitness testimony affect the use of DNA forensics? Internet Research links Killer’s Trial (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/) From WGBH Boston, this is a collection of on-line resources that accompany a NOVA special investigating the Sam Sheppard murder...
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...dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The defendant may also plead guilty without trial. Many guilty pleas result from plea negotiations between the prosecutors and defendant or defense attorneys. This pretrial process makes a formal criminal trial unnecessary (Scheb & Sharma, 2013). There are various roles in the criminal trial process, including the judge, the prosecuting attorneys, the jury, and the expert witnesses such as forensic psychologists. The assortment of roles has a high effect on the outcome for the defendant. A prosecutor is responsible for determining what charges to pursue and whether to plea bargain with the defendant. A jury decides a verdict. A judge decides a sentence. A forensic psychologist can influence all of these decisions by serving as an expert witness after their interaction with the defendant. All of these positions involve a great deal of discretion. This work seeks to research existing guidelines for decisions of prosecutors in bringing charges against a defendant, of judges in sentencing a defendant, of forensic psychologists in giving expert testimony,...
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...When you put these two words together, you get witness misidentification which has been referred to as the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, with nearly 75% of the convictions overturned through DNA testing. There have been 260 exonerations across the country based on forensic DNA testing with 3 out of 4 involving cases of eyewitness misidentification. (Innocence Project 1999) In 1907 or 1908, Hugo Munsterberg published “On the Witness Stand”; he questioned the reliability of eyewitness identification. As recent as 30 or 40 years ago, the Supreme Court acknowledged that eyewitness identification is problematic and can lead to wrongful convictions. The Supreme Court instructed lower courts to determine the validity of eyewitness testimony based on irrelevant factors, like the certainty of the witness, the certainty you express in court during the trial has nothing to do with how certain you feel two days after the event when you pick a photograph out of a set or pick the suspect out of a lineup. It has been said that you become more certain over time. (The Confidential Resource September 15, 2010) An eyewitness viewing a simultaneous lineup tends to make a judgment about which individual in the lineup looks most like the perpetrator relative to the other members of the lineup. This is particularly problematic when a lineup only contains innocent people. Research has shown that the effective use of fillers when composing a lineup can help combat the tendency...
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...convictions are eyewitness misidentification, misleading/unreliable forensics, false confessions (coerced/intimidated), witness perjury, prosecutorial misconduct, insufficient lawyering, racism and implicit bias. Since the first DNA exoneration conviction in the United States case that...
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...She looked at his facial features and clothing and body type. When it came time to chose someone out of the lineup, she was 100% sure that she had chosen the correct perpetrator- Ronald Cotton. After Ronald is convicted and sent to jail, Jennifer begins to rebuild her life while Ronald’s life begins to fall apart. The story then switches to the point of view of Ronald, who explains his side of the story and emphasizes his innocence. It was not until DNA testing came around that Ronald was able to truly prove his innocence. The overlaying theme of this story is that Jennifer’s eyewitness account was so strong that a jury believed, without a doubt, that Ronald Cotton was the man responsible for the rape of Jennifer Thompson. This certainty was quickly dispelled by DNA testing and brings about the problem of misconceptions. Jennifer thoroughly believed that Ronald was her rapist and this proves how easily it is for people to misidentify features of different races. It also helps to disprove eye witness accounts (Thompson-Cannino & Cotton, 2009, p.1-287). Keywords: rape, conviction, innocence, misidentification The People Behind Picking Cotton Each day something will come about that two people can perceive differently. This differentiation in the perception a person has can be related to a misconception. Most misconceptions come about because of the way a person was taught. Misconceptions are so common that often people do not...
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...epitomizes the validation and condemnation of the American justice system. There are many responsibilities of a jury: to achieve fair and impartial decision, determine guilt or not guilt, give people voice in the government, and to protect the rights of the accused. In other words, the main point of the jury system is not to provide innocence but eradicating or sustaining reasonable doubt. The presumption of innocence is a key theme in the narrative that reflects one of the distinct characteristics of the American justice system. As much as this film is about lessons of discrimination, fate, and impartiality, it is also a lesson of the American justice system. Although this film demonstrates many imperfections in the court system, as imperfect human beings, perhaps it is necessary that justice call upon such a system. As shown in Twelve Angry Men, the American justice system, although seemingly flawed, works for us imperfect human beings Aside from the opening courtroom scene where the audience is introduced to the judge and defendant, the film mostly takes place in a room with the twelve jurors. The names of each juror are not revealed but addressed in the order in which they are seated around the table. The lack of names reflects the anonymity of the justice system that calls upon citizens of all backgrounds to serve as a juror. Because the film moves right into the jury...
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...Abstract How human beings judge others has been the subject of many psychological studies over the years. In this paper, psychology in the legal arena is discussed including jury selection, juror life experiences and how it affects their biases, and the impact of the media on their decisions. Jury Selection and Its Importance Juries have the all too important task of making life altering decisions dealing with money, freedom, and many times life or death situations. Therefore, serving on a jury is a very serious and important proposition. Unfortunately, in today’s society it appears that many times juries are selected in a rather casual manner. Many individuals called to jury service, especially those with a higher education or in a higher economic echelon, can find ways to escape their civic duty, while those who are less educated and theoretically less qualified for jury service, end up serving on the jury and making critical decisions. A fairly new trend in jury selection is that of trial consulting, which gained notoriety in the mid 1990’s in the O.J. Simpson trial. The application of scientific jury selection (SJS) was first applied in 1971, and has grown tremendously in recent years for those who have the means to employ such methods. The goal of the trial consultant is to find persons to fill the jury seats who optimally will arrive at a decision that will be favorable to their client. The tools used by the trial consultant include “…community...
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...Green Card to have right to live and work permanently in the United States or even become a American citizen. A person’s valid green card also means that he or she by law is registered in the U.S. in accordance with all United States immigration laws. People who obtain a green card before 1989, the green card use to remain valid permanently. Since 1989 the immigration laws have changed that everyone must renew their green cards every 10 years. The law is also enforced in the same way for people who received their green cards in 1989 or before 1989. The previous versions of green cards are no longer valid everyone is required to renew their green cards every 10 years. (Rachel F., 2011) This is a primary example of news press release of how language barriers are causing a real serious problem to police officers. To be able to do their job effectively by people not being able to speak English or able to speak English very well to the criminal justice system and police officers within western Pennsylvania. Communication is important to police officers it allows the officer to do his job more...
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...Problems within the Criminal Justice System In the United States Abstract: This research paper explores some problems faced within the criminal system justice in the United States. Larry J. Siegel’s book “Criminology” gives us a history of the criminal justice system, how it operates, and some of the problems we experience with this system. Some of the problems detailed in this paper include the right to equal justice; which he explained the different kind of judgment that people receive based on their race, gender and class, the criminal justice system spends more money on criminals instead of improving technology for the police apprehending them, the criminal justice system lacks of sentencing disparity, reliance on eyewitness and modern technology can lead to conviction of innocent citizen, and finally the rehabilitation model which is set up to educate criminals and eventually let them free because of the belief that they are changed people and have been rehabilitated. According to the definition from the text “Criminology”, the term criminal justice system refers to “the components of government charged with enforcing law, adjudicating criminals, and correcting criminal conduct” (Siegel, 2009, p. 558). According to Siegel, the criminal justice system is essentially “an instrument of social control: society considers some behaviors so dangerous and destructive that it either strictly controls their occurrence...
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...QUESTION- 1) Bincangkan bagaimanakah pengecaman (identification) seseorang suspek boleh dibuat menurut Seksyen 9 (Akta Keterangan 1950). 2) Nyatakan juga permasalahan dan cabaran-cabaran (jika ada) yang terdapat dalam teknik pengecaman tersebut dengan merujuk kepada autoriti yang relevan. Identification of Person a)Identification by fingerprint Fingerprint Identification is the method of identification using the impressions made by the minute ridge formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two persons have exactly the same arrangement of ridge patterns, and the patterns of any one individual remain unchanged throughout life. Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics may change, but fingerprints do not. By comparing fingerprints at the scene of a crime with the fingerprint record of suspected persons, officials can establish absolute proof of the presence or identity of a person. Fingerprint is a biometric modality that is often used in a security setting. Fingerprint databases are in use worldwide for the purposes of personal identification, border control as well as to facilitate criminal forensic investigation. Many countries have multiple fingerprint databases, with each database serving a specific purpose. In Malaysia, there are at least 4 different fingerprint databases; namely PDRM-MAFIS (Polis Di Raja Malaysia- Malaysian Automated Fingerprint Identification System), PDRM-BIOFIS (Polis...
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...of the story, but lawyer wishes to show the jury something to demonstrate something about the case (e.g., experiment; picture of intersection) B. competing stories at trial – two ways stories can compete 1. factual differences 2. differences in inferences drawn from the same facts II. Policy Overview [values that the evidence rules protect] A. accuracy 1. rationality – does evidence have a rational relationship to the case? 2. reliability – is the evidence credible? B. efficiency – see FRE 403 C. fairness – rules should be party-neutral 1. but note: some rules exclude evidence to one party’s advantage (e.g., evidence that Δ fixed the steps after the accident excluded, b/c we want to encourage Δs to make steps safer) (e.g., Confrontation Clause, guarantees rt of accused in a criminal trial to confront witnesses brought against him) D. danger of misuse of information 1. one solution: limiting instructions 2. but sometimes we’re so skeptical of jury’s willingness/ability to follow limiting instructions, and the potential harm from the evidence is so grave as to outweigh the modest benefits, so we exclude the evidence E. protecting rt to jury trial 1. part of the 6th A rt to a jury trial is the rt to an effective jury – jury must be able to do more than just what the judge says; so judge must protect jury prerogative to view evidence and draw...
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...Meaning of action: semantic vs pragmatic. The importance of language : How we speak about action; what are the specific circumstances between actors. Language creates new meanings. New linguistic meanings create new possibilities and social realities. And language and action inform each other. Example: the statement “Jump from the window!” can mean many things. The statement can be “reinterpreted in many ways” and “different kinds of actions” are compatible/triggered by that statement, other than the literal interpretation and action that reflects the literal meaning. Semantics views action as propositional sentences. Seen as statements that someone makes to someone about something; they refer to events in the world (mere descriptions of things). Theory of action: from what? To Why? To who? (the agent). Focusing too much on What? and Why? and losing track of Who? (The who? Is ultimately needed for understand action from an ethical perspective.) We need to understand action related to an agent (not just a logical agent but a self). Attribution (of predicates) to a logical subject is not the same as: Ascription to a self where the agent can self-designate himself in the action he performed (or better yet, that he has not yet performed). Imputation (of moral value to an action) is an improvement over attribution but it is not enough. We must distinguish between event vs. action, knowing how vs. knowing that. Action can be explained by: Cause (w/o reason):...
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...“public office” includes a public agency; (4) “record” includes a memorandum, report, or data compilation; (5) a “rule prescribed by the Supreme Court” means a rule adopted by the Supreme Court under statutory authority; and (6) a reference to any kind of written material or any other medium includes electronically stored information. RULE 102. PURPOSE These rules should be construed so as to administer every proceeding fairly, eliminate unjustifiable expense and delay, and promote the development of evidence law, to the end of ascertaining the truth and securing a just determination. RULE 103. RULINGS ON EVIDENCE (a) Preserving a Claim of Error. A party may claim error in a ruling to admit or exclude evidence only if the error affects a substantial right of the party and: (1) if the ruling admits evidence, a party, on the record: (A) timely objects or moves to strike; and (B) states the specific ground, unless it was apparent from the context; or (2) if the ruling excludes evidence, a party informs the court of its substance by an offer of proof, unless the substance was apparent from the context. (b) Not Needing to Renew an Objection or Offer of Proof. Once the court rules definitively on the record — either before or at trial — a party need not renew an objection or offer of proof to preserve a claim of error for appeal. (c) Court’s Statement About the Ruling; Directing an Offer of Proof. The court may make any statement about the character or form of the...
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