It's time justice put the emphasis of our criminal justice system back on protecting the victim rather than the accused. Any criminal on death row has almost always committed another crime to add onto their punishment. DNA testing and other methods of modern crime scene science can now effectively eliminate most uncertainty as to a person's guilt or innocence. Death penalty pros states that “DNA testing is over 99 percent effective. And even if DNA testing and other such scientific methods didn't exist, the trial and appeals process is so thorough it's next to impossible to convict an innocent person”.
The media can help some cases and can hurt others. Frequently, police departments will give the media information about a case in hopes that a witness will contact them or their tip line with information. Sometimes the media will go out and talk to neighbors in the area surrounding the crime scene and create false information to get reactions; this may boost ratings, but in turn will hurt the investigation. The media may focus on a certain type of murder and may cause public outcry making that particular case a higher priority. The media can make a considerable contribution to these investigations by providing access to and engaging the support of the general public.
This can also occur when evidence is tampered with or purposely withheld from an investigation. The occasional justice failures are becoming more few and far between due to DNA evidence and updated technology. • In your opinion, what is the worst possible miscarriage of justice that could result in the criminal courts, and why? What could be done to prevent such an occurrence? In my opinion the worst possible miscarriage of justice that could result in the criminal courts is if an innocent person is charged with a felony in which they are sentenced to life in prison or execution.
False testimony, exaggerated statistics and laboratory fraud have led to wrongful conviction in several states. Since forensic evidence is offered by "experts," jurors routinely give it much more weight than other evidence. But when misconduct occurs, the weight is misplaced. In some instances, labs or their personnel have allied themselves with police and prosecutors, rather than prioritizing the search for truth. Other times, criminalists lacking the requisite knowledge have embellished findings and eluded detection because judges and juries lacked background in the relevant sciences, themselves.
Organized crime participants are master manipulators and can easily instill fear in the citizens within the area. This fear is often times enough to keep innocent people quiet when being questioned by law enforcement. This practice has helped organized crime not only survive but evolve within the United States. In addition, when the criminal group has the assistance of local law enforcement and judicial officials, it becomes common for a criminal case to end in a dismissal. In conclusion, it can be said that crime and politics have existed in America for decades, Money, and power are both present in crime and politics.
Although the thought of another individual having the ability to steal our fingerprints is scary, the majority of criminals would not be able to do this. The most common criminals do not plan their crimes out that effectively, so this new DNA and fingerprint system would still dramatically lower the amount of crimes. If this new database was used, it would also deter many criminals from breaking the law because there would be a higher risk of being convicted for the crime. One is more likely to commit a crime if there is a high possibility that he would not get
Due to the amount of appeals and thorough investigation of each case, no piece of evidence is overlooked for the benefit of the defendant. Unless there is strong criminating evidence and the court is certain the accused is guilty, the death penalty would not be issued. For the 2,293,157 behind bars in our country the miniscule 3,220 on death row is unlikely to contain innocents due to their case being examined extensively. If one innocent man was wrongfully put to death by the state, should we abolish the death penalty? This argument can be compared to if a police officer shoots an innocent man, the country should purge police officers of their weapons.
The title 43-1 statistic reflects the authors’ belief that for every justified shooting there are forty-three of which are unjustified. Included in these shooting statistics are suicides, accidents, and crime related shootings [ 9 Heumer]. Kellerman and Raey feel that stricter gun laws are consistent with a decrease in the number of unjustified shootings. The 43-1 statistic fails to acknowledge the crimes which are prevented because of the citizens use of firearms [ 10 Heumer ]. One effect of this is an inaccurate ratio relating to self-defense.
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml 1. Some examples of DNA use for forensic investigation is Identify potential suspects whose DNA may match evidence left at crime scenes Exonerate persons wrongly accused of crimes Identify crime and catastrophe victims Establish paternity and other family relationships 2. DNA identification can be quite effective if used intelligently. Portions of the DNA sequence that vary the most among humans must be used; also, portions must be large enough to overcome the fact that human mating is not absolutely random. 3.
The American justice system is not 100% efficient when convicting murderers and it is certain that people have been convicted of murder who were not responsible for the crime. It is also highly probable that an innocent person has been executed for a crime that they did not commit. To people that do not support the death penalty the risk of executing an innocent person is to great to have such a punishment in affect. They believe that people should be sentenced to life in prison so that they can have the opportunity to be granted a retrial if more evidence concerning their case is