They symbolize the rule of law. The loss of police credibility in such a public forum diminishes law enforcement's effectiveness in the streets. (Cliffnotes 2010) The O.J. Simpson acquittal is an example of how distrust of the police can result in a jury discounting a ”mountain” of evidence against a defendant. Criminal Justice scholars and investigative commissions have documented police lying under oath.
Outline and evaluate the research into eyewitness testimony. There has been a vast amount of interest into eyewitness testimony (EWT). EWT investigate the accuracy of memory following a crime or incident worth interrogating and the types of errors make in such situations. Sometimes EWT can be unreliable, which can lead to horrific consequences in a court of law. Rattner (1988) reviewed 205 cases of wrongful arrest (such as the case of Edward Honaker) and found that in 52% of cases, this was due to mistaken EWT.
What happens during the reconstruction of the memory may significantly affect its accuracy. False eyewitness memory is the main factor leading to false convictions. The Innocence Project claims that eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful conviction in the USA, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions that were subsequently overturned through DNA testing. One explanation for the inaccuracy of EWT is that questioning by the police or other officials after a crime may alter witnesses’ perception of the events and thus affect what they subsequently recall. For example some questions may be more ‘suggestive’ than others.
Representations 1, 2 and 3 all have differing levels of objectivity, accuracy and completeness. Rep 3 can argued to be the best Rep and Rep 2 is shown as the worst Rep. Rep 3 can be seen as the most accurate Rep as it can be backed up with the most evidence from other sources. Rep 3 states that the Metropolitan police ‘developed new methods of supervising habitual criminals’ and this can be confirmed by a book (1) which explains how ‘criminal records became more detailed… meaning that more habitual criminals were caught.’ However there is debate as to whether Rep 3 is entirely accurate as it slightly exaggerates the police’s success at ‘patrolling notorious districts’ and this contradicts a book (2) which shows how there were ‘some areas where the police did not go.’ Rep 1 can be shown as neither the most or least accurate as it doesn’t contain a very high level of accuracy, unlike Rep 3 but it does have a certain degree of accuracy. An example of Rep 1 not being completely accurate is when it explains ‘the police never had sufficient manpower to suppress disorder entirely’ and this is challenged by an extract from a book (3) as it says how there was an ‘enormous turnover of manpower’ and this was due to discipline being harsh and enforced by fine or dismissal. Contradictory to this, a point to back up Rep 1’s accuracy is that a book (2) agrees with Rep 1 as it says how ‘If there was a fight let them get on with it’ and Rep 1 also explains how ‘in some areas they allowed fights.’ Rep 2 is definitely the least accurate out of all the Reps as there are many more points that challenge its accuracy.
Lombroso stated that born criminals could be recognised because they possessed certain ‘stigma’, an example of this would be big ears, big lips, prominent cheeks bones, extra visible wrinkles, extra fingers or toes, irregularity of the head or face. A male with more than 4 of these anomalies is labelled a born criminal. Females can also be born criminal but they only need as little as 3 to inherit the title of a born criminal. (Lombroso 1876 cited in Akers 1999) This theory of criminal behaviour helped and inspired other criminologists come up with biological theories on criminal behaviour, but it has been proved that Lombroso’s theory on the born criminal is wrong. Charles Goring made an experiment of comparing prison inmates with soldiers, professors, university undergraduates and hospital patients and he found no differences between the 37 physical traits and behaviour, he concluded that ‘there was no such thing as a physical criminal type.’ (Akers,
This suggests that high anxiety situations have a negative impact on EW identification accuracy. In the second one he considered the recall of culprits and scene details. He found that details were correctly recalled by 64% for low anxiety conditions compared to 52% for high anxiety conditions. This shows that high anxiety reduces the ability to identify details of a crime. Also, we have to consider that eyewitnesses victims of a violent crime will register more the situations that pose a treat to them, like the criminal’s weapon.
CCJS360-Victimology November 18, 2013 1.Explain how inaccuracies in data creep into the statistics compiled by the various crime victimization surveys. What information about crime victims is not systematically collected by the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), or even the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS)? Why would this additional information be important? Some features of crime which affect our ability to measure it accurately are the relative infrequency of serious victimization, the skewed distribution of victimization in the population, and the furtive character of crime. Often times these surveys make the assumption that crimes are always discrete incidents rather than a repetitive social processes.
The CSI Effect on the Criminal Justice System “Popular media and anecdotal evidence have purported the existence of the “CSI Effect” on juror decision-making” (Mancini, 2011). Those people who are viewers of programs such as: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Minds, and Bones reported significantly greater dissatisfaction with pro-prosecution scientific evidence and required a greater percentage certainty in finding guilt. These highly popular programs affect the public’s perception of forensic science which affects the decision making in the criminal justice system. In these illusory programs, stimulating and captivating crime scene investigators recover concealed evidence from the crime scene and analyze the evidence with exceptionally sophisticated scientific testing procedures. After hearing these investigators use this entire vocabulary of perfect scientific lingo, they manage to make complete conclusions about the offenders’ identity and involvement in the crime, and often extract a confession from the perpetrator, all within an hour.
Almost always their manipulation skills are exceptional. A study just published in the journal Legal and Criminal Psychology found that even though they are more likely than other criminals to re-offend, psychopathic criminals are two and a half times more likely than others to charm parole boards into releasing them. The root of the problem Many researchers now believe that the core defect in psychopathy—and what most distinguishes it from other antisocial behavior disorders—is what are called "callous/unemotional traits." A child who kicks another child because he's angry and can't control himself but feels terrible afterwards may be antisocial, but he's not psychopathic. It's the kid who does it and feels no remorse—or even gets angrier because the other child's crying is annoying—who's most worrisome.
These hoaxes amplify society’s image of the criminalblackman. These white-on-black racial hoaxes are often times believed immediately because society finds it highly likely that a black person did indeed commit the crime. Often times the perpetrators of these racial hoaxes are only charged with filing a false police report, if any charges are brought at all. In the event the perpetrator is charged with the crime they are trying to cover up, it is less likely that any additional charges will be filed for the hoax since they are already being charged with the more serious crime. Typically there is not amends of any kind made to the person or the community that has been affected by the hoax; not even a simple apology.