Does our justice system convict too many innocents?

Question

If you believe that the system is broken, tell us how you would fix it.
Governor Ryan of Illinois found it so broken that he commuted all death row inmates to life without parole at the end of his term, 160 men. One man scheduled to be executed was exhonerated by the investigations of a college journalism class purely by accident.
Comments?

Answer 1

Kudos to the governor, as bad as the guilty ones need to have their necks stretched, the fact that after the introduction of DNA testing one in ten on death row are now being found innocent that is NOT acceptable odds. With all the appellate protections awarded death row inmates, how many rank and file felony prisoners with one appeal and their underpaid court appointed attorneys are actually innocent?? Try 30%? ANY odds are preposterous...This problem was even mentioned during the 2005 Presidential State of the Union Address. The system has been proved BROKEN.
The cure? Disclose to the jury ALL evidence and incidental information surrounding the crime and suspect, eliminate most "rules of evidence", they are convicting far more innocent persons than freeing criminals. That is what the Jury is supposed to do, to judge the facts and evidence, not just the facts and evidence the state chooses to present them.

Answer 2

Yes 1st of cops should not be allowed to change their statements after they are made. The defendant is not allowed to do this. also the so called probable cause thing the cops try to get around search warrants needs to go. Cops should not be allowed to make the exaggerations they do in there reports. They always make things sound 50 xs worse that what actually happened. the D.A. are also known for shady tricks to get a conviction these ta tics must not be allowed under any circumstances The best thing that could possibly happen would be for the court to have to pay the legal fees of every person found Innocent of the charges brought against them. If this were to happen you can bet the D.A.s office would make damn sure they had their facts straight before they brought a charge against anyone

Answer 3

Yes. Over 100 people that were on death row were exhonerated by DNA evidence. In this context think of all of the other cases in our system. It boggles the mind. By the way I am a CJ major and Sociology major.

Answer 4

Ten years ago I would have said yes, however with today's Forensic technology most times they're pretty damn accurate. Now that's not to say that it doesn't happen. I'm sure there are many innocent people convicted everyday. But barring shoddy police work, you stand a better chance today. But of course just go to jail and ask the prisoneers if they're innocent, in that instance you'll find that everyone in jail is wrongly convicted! lol

Answer 5

Wow, that's odd. I thought we were letting too many GUILTY men OUT of prison! Isn't it odd that, whenever they look for a murderer or rapist, they always look for people with criminal records?

Doesn't this tell us that these people should not be walking the streets? I think, the day you commit a violent crime, ESPECIALLY child molestation, you should get life without parole. If we KNOW you committed the crime, like if we have four witnesses to the crime, then they get the death penalty. Thsi will hopefully save us from killing anyone innocent.

And to save the country millions, we should use a single bullet, not expensive lethal injection.

Answer 6

Yes, I do. The problem is, concerning the law, it seems to be more about how smart you are, not how right you are. That's why so many innocent are in prison, and so many guilty aren't.

Answer 7

Yes, many times especially if you do not speak the language.

Answer 8

It lets too many of our guilty go free over technicalities.