Thesis: Wrongful convictions happen in general because ones who are innocent are the ones who are typically found guilty in their criminal trial, or sometimes a defendant might feel the need to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit in order to avoid the death penalty or facing long prison sentences. 1. The start of the Innocence Movement a. When the first DNA exoneration in the United States occurred in 1989 it showed the real truth of innocence or guilt. b.
Deception Deception is used by law enforcement to help them gather facts or the truth about a crime committed. Deception is one of the most used tools in investigation, interrogative, and the testimonial process and some believe that telling a little “white lie” to catch a criminal is not a problem. Criminal activities are increasing at a fast rate in the United States and law enforcement needs some type of help in catching a criminal and sometimes saving a life. One of the questions posed by some not in law enforcement could be if it is ethical to lie to obtain the truth. This paper will discuss that topic along with if it is a conflict between the code of ethics and how law enforcement is conducted.
The decisions can be far reaching and may have a significant impact on a juvenile, since their reasoning skills are lacking compared to that of an adult. Pros From a social standpoint, it can be an advantage to society to have such crimes, as example above, tried in criminal adult courts. It doesn’t appear that there was much in the way that the conviction of Lionel Tate served society since he was later released on appeal and given probation, however, he was later found guilty of violating his probation on a robbery charge and sentenced to prison (Aguayo, 2006). In other words, juveniles that commit such heinous crimes should be tried in adult’s court. These types of decisions to try juveniles in adult court serve society in terms of placing these individuals in custody for potential rehabilitation and introduction back into society.
Since insanity is defined so arbitrarily, lawyers can protect their clients from their punishments with relative ease by dragging out the legal process for years at a time by using the insanity defense. To be protected with the insanity defense in many states, a criminal must take the M'Naghten test: failure to determine right from wrong deems the criminal insane (Cornell University Law School). Although some argue that people with mental illnesses cannot be held accountable for their actions, the greater concern should be for the overall safety for The United States of America because criminals who plead insanity can be a danger when released, legal definitions of insanity vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Supreme Court has upheld four states' abolishing of insanity defense, and there is incomplete research on insanity. Shafer !2 Insane criminals who are found not guilty by reason of insanity are sent to mental hospitals to rehabilitate and treat their illness. The problem is that the criminals who are sent to a hospital and become "cured" could be a danger to society.
Aside from the verdict from the Hinckley trial, the public’s view on the insanity defense is not altogether accurate. There’s a misconception that criminals who use this type of reasoning as a plea can evade punishment. When it comes to the use of the insanity defense, only about one percent of criminals use this type of justification. By using the insanity defense, the criminal is admitting they are guilty of the crime however they are requesting a not guilty verdict based on the state of mind they were in at the time of the crime. This can get tricky for a defendant because if not proven mentally ill, they will be found guilty and usually endure a harsher sentencing for the crime.
The author, Elizabeth Loftus, studied using her own scientific research and other researcher’s findings memory distortion as well as the effects that leading questions and external factors have on a person’s memory. She studied this because while conducting her own research on memory distortion she became aware that many people have become wrongly convicted of crimes. She decided to further investigate why these wrongful convictions were taking place. Loftus found that it is relatively easy to plant false memories using suggestive or leading questions during witness interviews. To further back up this claim she found it was easy to place false memories and convince people it is true even if the memory is seemingly impossible; such as meeting Bugs Bunny in Walt Disney World.
Most of the evidence of the abuse was based on what the children claimed, telling of their memories of repeated crazy sadistic, horrific, ritual molestation. The children’s testimony was fully supported by psychological that at the time were considered fully accurate, but have now been proven to be very wrong. Also, the way the children were interrogated has been proven to effectively and easily put memories into children’s minds so that they think that they remember them, when in fact the memories were false and put into their heads the very way they had been interrogated the police. Since the police have changed the way they interrogate children now, there has not been one multi-victim multi-offender case since the McMartin case. Even though we know the fact that these memories are false, the children whose minds carry these false memories still believe these memories, which were implanted by the police who interrogated them.
Lying is a integral part of the “theory of mind” so parents shouldn’t be afraid or upset once they first lie because it is all a part of the developmental process (Osmoslka). So it is very healthy for kids to lie once in awhile. There is a marked increase for kids between ages 3 and 5 to start devolving these lying strategies (Morgan). One interesting fact is that most autistic kids lack this part of the theory of mind and are
In her essay, Why Juvenile Detention makes Teens Worse, Maia Szalavitz claims that those adolescent who entered the Juvenile justice system even briefly are more likely to be arrested later on in their adult life than those who have never been in the Juvenile system. Jennifer Gonnerman agrees. In her essay entitled, “The lost Boys of Tyron” she confirms the problem and suggests a solution. They both feel that that the Juvenile system is poor, but Szalavitz further believes that it has to do with the lack of positive direction in peer groups that cause kids to be worst. “By having them together, they form relationships.” When they are among so many different criminal associations with different behaviors this is more likely to increase the problem plus group experience tends to glamorize delinquency and drug use.
In residential treatments, behavioral therapy could work well with play therapy because the children who stay in a treatment facility might have not of had a perfect childhood and these children might not know how to play. Cognitive behavioral therapy works because it can change the way an individual thinks. When an individual is suicidal, the individual thinks of ways to commit suicide and also thinks that he or she is not worthy of anything to anyone. The individual can feel that he or she would not even be noticed if he or she were gone. Cognitive