O. J. Simpson Case Analysis

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Common law defines felonies as the most serious class of criminal offense and were uniformly punishable by death. In comparison the modern definition of a felony is any serious crime that is punishable by more than a year rererrof imprisonment or by death. According to Garland criminal responsibility or liability, has five elements. The actus reus is the physical action that a person must take in order to be responsible for a criminal offense. The mens rea is the mental state that a person has at the time that he or she performs the acts that constitute the commission of the crime. A unity of actus reus and mens rea has to involve both the physical act and the mental state in order to incite a criminal conviction. Causation is an ingredient…show more content…
(2004), Practical Guide to Evidence, 3rd edn, London: Cavendish Publishing Ltd. Anderson, T. and Twining, W. (1998), Analysis of Evidence, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. Dershowitz, A, M. (1996), Reasonable doubts: the O.J. Simpson case and the criminal justice system, New York: Simon & Schuster. Morrison, T and Brodsky, C. (1997), Birth of a nation’hood : gaze, script and spectacle in the O.J. Simpson case, London : Vintage. Schmalleger, F. (1996), Trial of the century : people of the state of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, Upper Saddle River, N.J : Prentice Hall. Thaler, P .(1997), The spectacle: media and the making of the O.J. Simpson story, Westport, Conn : Praeger. The complete case files of The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson (1994). Williams, L. (2001), Playing the race card : melodramas of black and white from Uncle Tom to O.J. Simpson, Princeton, N.J.; Oxford : Princeton University…show more content…
Our very own Fresno County Prison has had to deal with overcrowding for the past few years. My step father is a correctional officer and has seen first hand the result of this law. It has helped him to keep his job, but it has also lead to a very high population of inmates. I'm not sure if this law has done its job in deterring criminals from committing repeat felonies. My step Dad has told me on more than one occasion how nice the facilities actually are. On the inside the inmates are provided with heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, they have clothes on their backs, three full meals a day, cable TV, a gym, access to an education, a place to sleep every night and all for the price of their freedom. For some of them, this is a lifestyle choice, it is much easier to live comfortably on the inside of these prisons walls than to try to make it on the outside world. With the economy the way that it is I myself am unable to afford some of the things that inmates receive on a daily basis such as cable television and I only run my heater or air conditioner when the temperature because unbearable. I understand that the three strikes law was put into place to keep big time offenders off of the street, but there are flaws in the system. A felony such as, may not warrant life in prison. I myself have a hard time justifying taking someone's life away for something so small. Although the line

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