Argumentative Essay: Can People Still Be Wrongfully Convicted?

John Louis Evans, half of a well known criminal duo, committed over forty crimes while on parole with his partner, Wayne Ritter. Included in those many incidents were robberies, kidnappings, and extortion schemes. Eventually, these crimes turned deadly when the pair killed a pawn shop owner in the midst of a robbery. After only fifteen minutes in court for the murder, Evans was sentenced to be put to death by electric chair. Evans was put to death on April 22, 1983 in Yellow Mama, an electric chair built by a convict six decades before, and had not been used in over two.

Jury convicted on weapons possession but acquitted on possession of the trunk contents. D’s argued that the guns were in the possession of the girl and they did not have possession. D’s challenged the constitutionality of the New York State statute which allowed a charge of illegal possession if a gun was found in a car occupied by all individuals

As someone may have said, “Lizzie did it” or “It was totally Lizzie” is right. As some may say, the Lizzie Borden case must be quiet boring. Well, it’s wrong! Go into detail, who else would’ve burned a dress from old paint? Lizzie Borden, by the way, is a murder case that happened on August 4, 1892.

Why are people always convicted on something they only have circumstantial evidence on? I believe that there is many more ways for a jury to find out if a person is guilty or not and circumstantial evidence is one of the main things they use. Most of the time people get blamed for something they didn’t do and they don’t even have all the evidence to prove that one is guilty. So then they end up going to jail for a crime they did not commit. I don’t believe a person should be convicted of a crime based only on circumstantial evidence because I don’t think it’s fair for the victim.

Therefore, this is an outdated claim, due to our justice system changing and adapting to public beliefs. There may be a few wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system, however that does not make it cause more harm than good. In any system there are flaws, we cannot disregard all the good the justice system does. Although this system has flaws like all others, it is what safeguards our society's

Since the founding of our judicial system there have always been individuals claiming innocence to a crime that they have been found guilty of, traditionally, after their sentencing no matter how innocent they may or may not be would have to serve, live and possibly die by the decision of their peers. The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck alongside Peter J. Neufeld faces this issue by challenging the sentencing of convicted individuals who claim their innocence and have factual ground to stand upon. The Innocence Project uses the recent advances in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing to prove their client’s innocence by using methods that were not available, too primitive or not provided to their clients during their investigation,

Its true purpose is shrouded in uncertainty; even lawyers and judges struggle to draw the line between not guilty and not proven. Despite this, the two verdicts are virtually indistinguishable in the eyes of the law. Some believe that not proven means the jury feels that the accused is guilty, but don't have the evidence to prove it; while others disagree. This means that the verdict can be seen as a way for juries to avoid making a definitive decision, leading to a lack of accountability and a decrease in public trust in the justice system. Nevertheless, with either Not Guilty or not proven, the defendant is cleared and cannot be tried on the same charges again unless significant new evidence emerges.

Mass incarceration is the way that the United States has locked up millions of people over the last forty years using unnecessary and disproportionate policies. Contrary to popular belief, this is racially fueled as most of these policies saw to it that blacks and latinos be locked up for longer than their white peers and for smaller crimes. These racist roots within the system can be traced back to when the first slave ship arrived in the US. But our first major prison boom was seen after the American Civil war. I know that the Civil War was far more than forty years ago.

Civil liberties are rights guaranteed to citizens in the Constitution that the government cannot interfere with, however, in the name of national security, they do. The government sometimes finds it necessary for Americans to give up some of their basic rights to keep the nation protected, but many people find this unnecessary. A law-abiding citizen’s extremely personal information should not be essential to finding terroristic threats within this society. Under no circumstances should an American citizen’s civil liberties be violated in a time of war or crisis, because those are assured rights that are most valuable to their freedom during national conflicts.

Throughout the years, there have been many controversial cases that deal with justifiable homicide. A justifiable homicide is defined as the killing of a person in circumstances that allow the act to be regarded in law as without criminal guilt. This basically means that someone kills someone else because they feel threatened for their safety or for someone else 's safety around them. The main concept of justifiable homicide stands on a line between an excuse or a justification. In most circumstances, homicides are justified when they prevent greater harm to innocence.

Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong In Brandon L. Garrett 's book, Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong, he makes it very clear how wrongful convictions occur and how these people have spent many years in prison for crimes they never committed. Garrett presents 250 cases of innocent people who were convicted wrongfully because the prosecutors opposed testing the DNA of those convicted. Garrett provided simple statistics such as graphs, percentages, and charts to help the reader understand just how great of an impact this was.

With millions of criminal convictions a year, more than two million people may end up behind bars(Gross). According to Samuel Gross reporter for The Washington Post, writes that also “even one percent amounts to tens of thousands of tragic [wrongful conviction] errors”(Gross). Citizens who are wrongfully convicted are incarcerated for a crime he or she did not commit. Many police officers, prosecutors, and judges are responsible for the verdict that puts innocents into prison. To be able to get exonerated many wait over a decade just to get there case looked at, not many are able to have the opportunity of getting out.

Luckily, it is known what causes wrongful convictions and how to fix them. Many wrongful convictions are due to mistaken eyewitnesses, jailhouse snitches, or false evidence. I think many of the wrongful convictions could be solved with harder evidence, more information. A case should not rely on a single eye witness but multiple.

Over 2 million people are currently being held in United States prisons, and while the U.S. may only hold 5% of the world’s population, it houses 25% of its prisoners. In the past few years, America’s prison system has fallen under public scrutiny for it’s rising incarceration rate and poor statistics. Many Americans have recently taken notice of the country’s disproportionate prisoner ratio, realized it’s the worst on the planet, and called for the immediate reformation of the failing system. The war on drugs and racial profiling are some of the largest concerns, and many people, some ordinary citizens and others important government figures, are attempting to bring change to one of the country 's lowest aspects.

Capital Punishment is the death penalty for those who commit murder. The thought behind this punishment is a life for a life. There has been debate on if the death penalty is right or wrong. Some poeple want the death penalty to be illegal while others argue it is needed to deter crime. There are many valid arguments regarding the death penalty.