Essay Sample: How Reliable is the Justice System in the US?

When an airplane crashes, investigators pore over the wreckage to discover what went wrong and learn from the experience. The justice system has not done anything similar and is not fair to all its citizens. Murder on a Sunday Morning shows the case of one citizen who was not treated fairly directed by Jean Xavier deLestrade. On May 7, 2000, in the parking lot of Ramada Inn in Jacksonville, Florida, 65 year old Mary Ann Stephens was shot in the head in the presence of her husband. Ninety minutes later, 15 year old Brenton Butler was arrested, just going down the street of the crime scene to submit a job application. He had an eyewitness against him who is Mr Stephens. He was forced to confess by three detectives - Glover, Williams and Darnell-- after being abused by them. Butler claimed innocence in court. Not giving up, Attorney Patrick Guniness came in to prove his innocence.  There  are several factors that can cause innocent people to be charged with crimes, such as mistaken witness identity, false confession, false forensic evidence and incompetent legal defense. 

One reason why innocent people are convicted is because of mistaken eyewitness identification. Eyewitness statements are always more powerful against the criminal whether innocent or guilty. In some cases, the fake criminal will look like the real one and that becomes difficult to get out of. For example, Mr Stephens did not even see the killer’s face but he was immediately asked to identify Butler. He was misidentified based on the fact that he wore similar clothes and had the same skin color as the murderer. Some of these eyewitnesses just go along with what the police want to  hear about a particular suspect. According to the conversation article,  “In fact, research shows that 75% of false convictions are caused by inaccurate eyewitness reports. This means up to 100 innocent people could be wrongly convicted each year of a violent or sexual crime in the UK because of these false eyewitnesses.” In order to argue against claims made by a false eyewitness, the accused person has to have  a very strong alibi. These eyewitnesses have destroyed many innocent lives, and their statements are often overruled by DNA results. Butler was one of the lucky ones to be found innocent, but  so many others don’t get justice that easily.

Another reason why innocent people are convicted is false confession. In a moment of desperation and frustration, defendants think this method is the easiest way out.  A fifteen year old boy with no lawyer or parents around was tortured like that. The police officers took Butler in a bush and were beating and punching him in his stomach so that he would confess to shooting Inn. It made the police officers look like gang members rather than professionals deserving a police uniform. The police abuse their power by beating people in order to force them to make a false claim, when they should be conducting a thorough investigation. In the court, it is self contradictory. People accused of crimes are denied their rights when they should be seen as innocent until proven guilty. Sometimes when false confessions are recorded, there are obvious signs of trying to keep up with the facts because the police have shared the information and put words into their mouths. For example, the three detectives took Butler into the woods and started punching and beating him to describe how the scene happened. Those injuries were used in court to prove that he was beaten and get a good ruling. Innocent people like Benton are often forced to make a false confession.  For example,  the movie called When They See Us shows police forcing people to make false confessions. It is about five boys who were threatened and beaten to make false confessions about a rape that happened in the park. Although they were in the park at that time, they didn’t know anything about the rape. Police make people make wrong confessions by lying to them that they will be free to leave the station afterwards.

Another reason why innocent people are convicted is forensic results like shoe print comparison, hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons and fireman tool mark analysis. For example, a shoe comparison can happen whereby the criminal and the innocent person are wearing the same size and shoe design. As a result, the measurements at the scene can lead back to the innocent person. DNA testing goes two ways: it saves the innocent and reveals the real criminal or puts the innocent in prison for a long time. It means the innocent defendant serves many years for a crime they know nothing about.  “FBI researchers claim fingerprints are right more than 99 percent of the time. But that still leaves plenty of wrongful convictions.” For example, Butler did not have any matched evidence at the crime scene. This evidence helps people but sometimes it is wrong and puts the innocent person in jail. These tests should be run multiple times to be sure the results are correct.

Another reason why innocent people are convicted is incompetent legal defense. A good defense lawyer is an asset to have as a wrongfully accused person. It is good to have an attorney to believe in the person and prove that by going as far as investigating again. There are not a lot of lawyers who will use their personal resources to prove the innocence of a person. In Butler’s case, he was lucky to have Attorney Patrick Guniness to fight and not give up. He showed competence when the police didn’t. If more attorneys would do that, then less innocent people would be sent to jail. Everyone deserves a second chance even if all odds are against them. For example, according to an article written by Debra Cassens Weiss at Abajournal on September 29, 2016, an incompetent lawyer  was removed from a case by a judge because she did not know basic legal terms and concepts being discussed at a pretrial hearing for her client. The lawyer replied “I don't know” to some of the questions asked and called a legal concept “simple as an apple pie.” Her client was accused of robbing and killing a man with whom he was romantically involved. The lawyer was actually an immigration lawyer. She took up a case that she didn’t know anything about. People deserve a lawyer that is professional and competent.

In conclusion, the American justice system should be fair to all its citizens no matter their skin color or if all evidence just seems to point against them. Factors like mistaken eyewitness misidentification, false confession, false forensic evidence and imcompetent legal defense. These factors are among the reasons so many lives and families are destroyed. Police should be accountable for their actions. Everyone should feel safe around them and not be scared of them, especially people of color. Everyone should be able to exercise their rights anytime. Every investigation should be conducted more than once in case of any inconsistencies.