Why do wrongful convictions occur and how prevalent are they?, law assignment help
Response needed:Why do wrongful convictions occur and how prevalent are they?According to Zalman, “Wrongful convictions occur when innocentdefendants are found guilty in criminal trials, or when defendants feelcompelled to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit in order toavoid the death penalty or extremely long prison sentences” (Zalman).There are several other ways that a wrongful conviction could occur,such as conviction reversal, or an erroneous conviction.There are several other reasons why wrongful convictions could occur,the University of Michigan Law website states that eyewitnessmisidentification, junk science, false confessions, governmentmisconduct, snitches and bad lawyering are all contributors to wrongfulconvictions. Junk science can be a contributor due to a lack ofscientific validation. Government misconduct can also contribute. TheUniversity of Michigan attibutes this to poor ethics on governmentofficials. They also state that there may be forensic analysts whoengage in misconduct. These are levels of misconduct within the criminaljustice system that we have previously discussed throughout the course.One case that represents this is the case of Annie Dookhan. She wasindicted on 27 charges for her misconduct, including obstruction. Shewas a chemist who would claim to perform tests, when she didn’t. Thisresulted in over 200 defendants being released.According to the National Registry of Exonerations, there are 1,625individuals who served over nine years for crimes they didn’t commit.This is a staggering number when you think about how the AmericanCriminal Justice system is supposed to be fair and just.Zalman, M. (2009). Wrongful convictions. In J. M. Miller 21st Century criminology: A reference handbook (pp. 842-850). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412971997. Causes of Wrongful Convictions Retrieved October 2016 fromhttps://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/innocenceclinic...Hernandez, Christian, 2013 March 04, Thousands of cases compromised due to faulty forensic analysis, Forensic Resources, Retrieved October 2016 from https://ncforensics.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/thousands-of-cases-compromised-due-to-faulty-forensic-analysis/Gross, Samuel, 2015 July 24, The staggering number of wrongful convictions in America, The Washington Post, RetrievedOctober 2016 fromhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-cost-o...Identify and discuss any one type of cybercrimeDigital piracy is a cybercrime that has affected the entertainmentindustry for years. Higgins defined audio and video piracy as the“illegal act of uploading or downloading digital sound or video withoutexplicit permission from and compensation to the copyright holder” (p.4).The amount of file sharing has steadily increased over the years.File sharing is considered piracy since individuals are illegallydownloading audio or video without consent or purchase. Siwek states theU.S. economy loses $12.5 B per year, and 71,060 jobs are lost. This isan astounding figure. The ramifications of this may have a butterflyeffect. As we discussed earlier in the course, the prevalence of crimein lower income neighborhoods is much higher; could some of this crimebeen prevented if people were given the opportunity to work in some ofthese lost jobs?[1]Stephen E. Siwek, “The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to theU.S. Economy.” Institute for Policy Innovation Policy Report – #181.(2007) Retrieved October 2016 fromhttp://www.ipi.org/IPI/IPIPublications.nsf/3939c7c...Higgins, G. & Wolfe, S. (2009). Cybercrime. In J. M. Miller 21st Century criminology: A reference handbook (pp. 466-471). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412971997.n54Identify and discuss any one issue that you found interesting in Chapter 62: Terrorism.The discussion presented about defining terrorism as a crime ordeviance was particularly interesting. The challenge faced bycriminologists due to the overarching political dimensions associatedwith terrorism. Terrorism is a form of violence. When you look at itfrom the individual level, criminologists may study the propensity of anindividual to join a terrorist organization, or to commit terroristacts. When studying terrorism at the macro level, terrorism can studythe “fluctuations of terrorism as a function of other societaldevelopments” (Deflem)Terrorism is unique since it may constitute mass violence against agroup. It is a type of social control that differs from traditionalwarfare. There are no clear opposing factions that are clashing. Some ofthe key things that I found interesting were how when the perpetratorsof terrorism may aim their efforts towards an upward direction.Terrorists will attack victims without provocation from the victim, butto spread a message. The perpetrators may feel that their actions arejust, and that they are the victims. This may create a paradox as to whois right in the situation.Deflem, M. (2009). Terrorism. In J. M. Miller 21st Century criminology: A reference handbook (pp. 533-540). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412971997.n62
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