Compensation for Wrongful Conviction

Wrongful conviction has been something that has always occurred in the court systems. For many years, prior to DNA testing, there was no way to avoid this for some people. This issue has really been one that has attracted a lot of attention. There have even been songs written about the subject such as Bob Dylan’s â€Å"Hurricane. † Wikipedia (2009, pp 1-2) refers to this situation as the â€Å"miscarriage of justice. † In the definition it states that it is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime which was not committed by the person. It can also mean that the conviction was sentenced in a trial that was found to be unfair or a trial which had been disputed. Although wrongful convictions still do occur there are a lot of resources that are put into place so that this does not happen any more. These things have been added in order to assist the overall justice system in being able to modify issues and in being able to utilize the best and most solid convictions in order to alleviate the issues that have occurred in the past with wrongful convictions. Some have even believed that there is something that is essentially wrong with the process of the current justice system (Westervelt and Humphrey 2001 Chapter 1). There are many different theories as to why wrongful conviction has become so prevalent in the modern day society when with the advancement of technology one could argue that wrongful convictions should lessen. A lot of these issues have to do with the attitudes towards crimes and the overall attitudes of law enforcement as well as the public perception of violent criminals. The issues are that there are a lot of violent crimes that occur in society. When law enforcement is unable to find a conviction the public outcry is heard and there are a lot of problems with respect for law enforcement and the overall feeling of safety of those who are living in the society. There is then an outcry for someone to pay for the crimes that have been committed. These are especially heard when the crimes have to do with rape or murder as these violent crimes are thought to be worse than some other crimes. Law enforcement’s answer is find someone to blame the crime on in order to be able to modify how they are looked at by those in society who matter, the general public. Sadly in today’s society it is often not whether or not the right person is behind bars that give reassurance but rather it is whether or not someone is paying for the crime which has been committed. The public should be aware that the outcries and over-involvement in the catching of violent criminals has lead to the wrongful conviction of many people and that therefore it will continue to lead to wrongful conviction until there is a public outcry for justice and the involvement to find the right criminal for the crime. There are many different situations in which wrongful conviction could apply. One such situation would be where someone is not charged however they are still arrested and detained for a crime which they did not commit. Also there are the problems with someone who has charges dropped prior to trial after being detained and charged for a crime which was not committed by the person. A third way that someone could be wrongly convicted is if he/she is denied bail but then they are tried and aquitted. Some other reasons behind wrongful convictions are those who are able to have a conviction overturned on appeal but yet they have still been convicted. Another one is that the person could have been sentenced after being convicted of another crime prior to when the appeal for which they were originally arrested was heard. Finally the last reason for wrongful conviction is that there is the person who has been able to be pardoned from a crime which they are found ot be convicted of or they are able to have the conviction overturned in an appeal after having served time from the initial conviction (Hoel 2008, pp 1). The issues of wrongful conviction do not just cause problems for those who have been wrongly convicted but also for those who are working in the justice system. Judge Learned Hand once stated that he felt that he was in some sense followed by the fear that he had sentenced or convicted someone of a crime for which they did not commit. This judge recognizes that at times things are not done right and he too agonizes over the thought that he will condemn someone to an unfair fate for a crime that he/she did not commit. The criminal justice system does take precautions and they do attempt to not have these types of problems however at times they seem almost unavoidable. In the book, Presumed Guilty: When Innocent People are Wrongly Convicted the author talks about the issues with the criminal justice system and their struggle between trying to uphold the law and trying to be as unbiased and fair as possible in not handing down wrongful convictions (Yant 1991, Chapter 1). There are many causes for wrongful conviction. Some of these causes are not as bad as they have been in the past as our culture has developed and become more open minded, however they have been prevalent in the past. The main reasons for wrongful conviction have been fraudulent results or evidence, errors in eye witness testimony, and discrimination whether racial or against those who have disabilities. It has been described that the unfortunate common scene of the wrongful conviction has been that the defendant is sentenced and that around ten years later or more he/she is proven innocent by DNA evidence. Later the victim will continue to maintain that the defendant was guilty and that their eye witness testimony was not wrong. In the end, this scenario continues to hurt the wrongly accused as he/she will continue to face discrimination as those feel that there is still a problem with them and that they are still guilty. These innocent defendants not only have to live with the sacrifices of spending time imprisoned but also they have to face continued discrimination from those who feel that they are guilty, therefore some form of compensation should be allowed to those who have been wrongfully convicted in any criminal justice system (Westervelt and Humphrey 2001, Chapter 1). Overall what can be taken is that there is a connection between the beliefs of harsh forms of punishment and the death penalty and the ethical possibility that one could be wrongly convicted and deserve to be free. Some other causes of wrongful conviction were discussed in Paul Craig Roberts’ article The Causes of Wrongful Conviction. This author tries to make a connection between the strong opinions for issues like the death penalty and issues with wrongful conviction. His remedy is to work harder at ensuring that there are not problems with wrongful conviction and therefore that there is less of a need to argue and fight over the issues of the death penalty. This author believes that there is a huge injustice in the wrongful conviction and that in the end it is this and not the penalty. This is meaning that the issue of wrongful conviction first needs to be dealt with prior to the other issues with crime and punishments of these crimes. Some of the problems with wrongful conviction can be traced back to the New Deal in that the government during the New Deal put the power for carrying out the law and setting up the law in the same government body and in the hands of the same agency which is one contributing factor to these problems. Some other areas where the laws have gotten out of hand are the laws that are pertaining to the freezing of assets. These laws were originally intended to be used against those who were associated with the mob however they were expanded and it has been common for them to be applied to innocent property owners on a regular basis (Roberts 2003, pp 567-570). For some things, like fingerprinting, it is often thought that there can not be mistakes and that they can not lead to wrongful conviction however at times this could be wrong. The problems that can occur with fingerprinting leading to a wrongful conviction are very rare and for a long time were thought to be non-existent. In 2004, Stephen Cowans was found innocent from his crime by DNA evidence and it was the evidence of fingerprinting that had led to his conviction in the first place. In this case it was the mislabeling of a card with his fingerprints that led to his arrest and conviction. When ran through various tests and attempts through research on this topic it was not uncommon to have a few mistakes. The problem with this is that there were only false positives in this area (Cole 206, pp 39-50). At this time there are few resources available for those who have been wrongly convicted. There has been a lot of commentary for hundreds of years about how wrong it is for someone who is innocent to be convicted for a crime which he/she did not commit. This can be evidenced through quotations like those from Voltaire in 1774, stating â€Å"It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn and innocent one,† or Sir William Blackstone, who stated â€Å"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer. Yet, even with all of this information and the strong political views that have been prevalent for hundreds of years there still seems to be a problem with the justice system and one in which innocent people are convicted as guilty on a regular basis. During the 1980’s and 1990’s it became prevalent in American society that attention was drawn to cases where those who were innocent were â€Å"severely punished. † Take for instanc e the case of Isidore Zimmerman who had been wrongly convicted and served twenty four years for a crime which he did not commit. This man chose to fight for compensation and it took yet another twenty years of him fighting in order to be awarded $1 million in compensation for the damages that being wrongly imprisoned for twenty four years had caused. Sadly, this man died just four months after winning his fight. One of the largest problems with these types of cases is the fact that the victims (those who have been wrongly imprisoned) do not have a set standard of compensation which should be available to them as their lives have truly been ruined by some type of mistake in our justice system (Huff, Rattner, and Sagarin 1996, Chapter 1). The tragedy here is that this man had to fight his whole life, fight for his rights and to not be sentenced for a crime which he did not commit, fight to get out of jail and then fight for the right to compensation after his life was ruined by a wrong conviction. The people who have been wrongly convicted for various reasons have a voice and deserve to be heard on this topic and it is something that greatly affected them and continues to affect them on a daily basis. Take for instance the case of Kenny Adams who was wrongly convicted based on the fact that he had been wrongly identified. This man was bitter and angry at what he felt was a failed justice system and he was thought to be uncooperative by authorities and those who were in charge of sentencing him as he had maintained his innocence and refused to take any plea bargains which could have greatly reduced the time that he spent in jail. This man was innocent and later proven innocent by DNA evidence however he spent some of the best years of his life wasting away in one of the worst prisons in our country. He spent his time in a prison that was known for breaking down the hardest criminals and all the while he maintained his innocence and pushed through to finding a way to prove that he had been innocent. One of the main reasons that he was convicted was based on the fact that he was an African American male and there was eyewitness testimony that put three African American males and one Mexican male in the area where a young couple was raped and murdered. Maybe perhaps these were the crimes that Dr Martin Luther King Jr. as talking about in the summer of 1963 when he stated that one of his dreams was that his children could live in a country where they would not be judged by the color of their skin but rather by who they were as a person (Ciolino 2005, Chapter 1). It is still hard to imagine that there continues to be discrimination based on someone’s race in a world that is so integrated as the world today. Another case of wrongful conviction based on discrimination is that of Marion Coakley. This man was severely mentally retarded and had been convicted of rape. He was unable to cooperate or thrive in the prison setting as he was unable to understand the expectations and why the expectations were expected of him. Therefore he was in trouble a lot and was put into isolation cells and other various forms of punishment for his inability to cooperate. He had a lot of problems with basic comprehension and understanding. Marion also had a lot of built up anger in being convicted of a crime which he did not commit. He was frequently moved between various prisons and within a twenty four month period he had been moved a total of eight times. He talked often about how he felt â€Å"railroaded† into prison as he did not understand how he could be punished for a crime which he did not commit (Scheck, Neufield, and Dwyer 2001, Chapter 1). In this case it was an example of how one can be discriminated against based on a disability affecting his/her cognitive functioning. Another man who was wrongly convicted was Gary Dotson. Gary Dotson was wrongly convicted after he had been identified as a rapist by his victim. This man maintained his innocence and six years later the supposed victim recanted her testimony stating that she had falsified it all in an attempt to ward off problems with her foster parents if she was pregnant from having consensual sex with her boyfriend at the time. She claimed to be recanting to clear her conscious. The only problem was that after Dotson was released he was re-imprisoned when the judge chose to believe that the woman’s recanted statement was the true lie. Later after a national outcry the governor of IL released him still maintaining that he was guilty but saying that he had enough time served for his crime. Later it was proven through DNA evidence that he was wrongfully accused and convicted, however this was after having not only served time in prison once but twice and having to live outside of prison with the conviction on his record (Huff, Rattner and Sagarin 1996, Chapter 1). There is no current remedy available to assist victims of this tragedy. These victims are those who have been wrongly convicted of a crime, forced to serve time and later exonerated of that said crime but still having to live with all of the stigma and discriminations as if they were the criminal that they had been convicted of being. There are many different types of wrongful conviction however typically only those which are the most severe, the cases of murder or rape are brought to public attention. This type of wrongful conviction does not only deal with a specific type of crime however but there are wrongful convictions in all types of crimes. Some of the problems with there being no compensation for the victims have to do with the after effects of wrongful conviction and how this type of thing really affects the person’s life. There can be all types of issues with wrongful imprisonment and these include issues with finding employment, finding housing, interpersonal relationships and having the respect of other people. Those who have been wrongly convicted have problems with being able to find suitable employment as many employers discriminate against them. Not only do the wrongly convicted have a hard time with finding employment but they also have difficulty in finding housing. Another area where there is strong discrimination is in housing. For those who have been wrongly convicted it can be very difficult to find good housing as there are a lot of places that will not rent to those who have had convictions and even if a conviction has been overturned if it were a conviction for rape or murder there is a chance that the once accused might not be able to find housing based on this information. These victims also have a loss in their interpersonal relationships as this type of conviction can ruin a marriage and a family and at times the victim might not even be allowed to see his/her children even after the wrongful conviction is overturned. Although there are many more areas in which a person would be deserving of compensation for a wrongful conviction one of the main other reasons is that there is a loss of overall respect from others towards this person. This happens when the person does not get the respect that he/she deserves from people based on the fact that there are past convictions and therefore people discriminate against him/her (Huff, Rattner, and Sagarin 1996, Chapter 1). Part B. Wrongful convictions and the compensation thereof are all different based on what part of the world the formerly accused is living in. There are differences that are major between Australia, U. S. A. , New Zeland, and England. Each of these areas has a separate current trend in the compensation of those who have been wrongly convicted, however there are many other issues that are necessary to be dealt with as well with each country and simple solutions for each to find a way to compensate those who have served time for a crime which they did not commit. The overall goal of each country should be that there are a national standard and a set of regulations to determine the amount of help and the type of compensation that should be given to the wrongly convicted. There should be standards for this type of compensation and certain things should be taken into consideration as well. In Australia there has been a lot of research on the subject of wrongful convictions and the compensation for those who have had a wrongful conviction in the past. Some of the laws in the country are made to protect those who are wrongly convicted. In the country’s codes and amendments it is stated that there can be compensation given through victim’s rights and advocacy and therefore there might not be a need for a court hearing or legal follow up in order to ensure that the wrongly convicted are given the compensation on their own. In Australia there is right to compensation for these issues. The basic meaning of this is that there is a payment made without the legal repercussions or legal fight that would be required in other countries (Hoel 2008 pp 2-4). In the ACT (Australian Capitol Territory) there are specific codes that are used in this area. Those who are wrongly convicted have a right to seek compensation if one of the following is committed. These include that the victim have â€Å"been convicted of a criminal offense by a final decision of a court, suffered punishment because of the conviction, and had the conviction reversed (or been pardoned) on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice. † The law does not have a set standard of compensation (Hoel 2008, pp 2-3). Since there are no regulatory standards in Australia at this time it is being questioned as to whether or not the government should set in place a set of standards for the wrongly convicted. In her article, Does Australia Need a Specific Institution to Correct Wrongful Convictions by Lynne Weathered there was a lot of information encouraging Australian government to take a stand and work towards an appropriate form of compensation for those who are wrongly convicted in the country. This article compares the systems and regulations in place in Australia with other countries (Weathered 2007, pp 179-186). Not only has the country of Australia been working on creating a system in place for those who are wrongly convicted but also the United States of America has been working on these issues as well in regards to how they affect the country. In the United States of America there are a lot of different factors that are been looked at in the idea of compensation for those who are wrongly convicted. Some states are working harder than others in the fight for restoring rights to those who have been wrongly convicted. One of these states is Illinois. In this state the state legislative bodies just passed a law where there is no requirement for a wait or a court trial for a pardon in wrongful conviction cases. This means that these victims are instantly pardoned from these issues and that there is an encouragement for these victims that were not there before. This new law allows for those who are wrongly convicted to be able to apply for their certificates of innocence at a circuit clerk’s office anywhere in the state rather than having to go before the governor and go through a governmental pardon trial. This was a celebrated victory for those in the United States and it gave a good format for other states and other countries in something simple that could be done for those who are wrongly convicted to be compensated in some way instantly without having to wait (Ahmed 2008, pp 1-2). Not only has Illinois made strides in working towards compensation for the wrongly convicted but so has the state of Mississippi. Another state that has really stepped up to the plate in ensuring victim’s rights when wrongly convicted has been Mississippi. In Mississippi it was passed into law that someone who was wrongly convicted and spent time in prison deserved $50,000 per year served for a total of up to $500,000. This bill was passed and justified as there were a lot of issues with the victims not being able to put their lives back together and with them having a difficult time learning how to live back in the free world again after being imprisoned and having to deal with the issues of their imprisonment (Newsome 2009, pp 1). There have been many articles and papers written on the topic of compensation for wrongful conviction in the United States however it is apparent that there needs to be more follow up incentives and better standards for the nation as a whole as a lot of the strides are on a state level rather than a national level. In her article Louise Radnofsky discusses all of the problems with there not being a unified decision among the states in the USA with the subject of wrongful conviction. She looked at cases where there was not unified decision and where the victims of the issue of being wrongfully convicted were not given any type of pardon or any help to overcome said issues. The overall standard was that these victims were not able to get any compensation unless they lived in one of the states where the compensation is available. In the end the USA should take control of this situation and there should be some type of compensation for those who have been wrongly imprisoned (2007, pp 1-3). Overall it could be argued that the United States is working on a separate state by state level to deal with the issues of wrongful conviction and compensation for the victims. There is still a long way that the country could go and nationalizing some of the state’s plans could be simplest way to putting these policies and procedures into law and helping those who need the compensation to gain it appropriately and simply. Not only are victims in the United States able to sometimes get compensation but also there are sometimes ways for those in the country of New Zealand to get compensation as well. Not only do major changes need to be made in Australia and the USA but also the country of New Zealand needs to make appropriate changes in order to rectify the ideas of wrongful conviction for those in their country. There have been extreme cases in the country of New Zealand where there has been compensation awarded to victims of wrongful convictions. In New Zealand it is possible that there have been awards made based on the amount of time and energy the wrongly convicted has put into being able to get compensated. However there is no set protocol and there have not been mandatory regulations in this area either. The cases that have been seen and heard which have been awarded money for compensation are all ground breaking and could eventually help to ensure that all of those in the country of New Zealand are compensated if they are wrongly convicted (Goff 2001, pp 1). Not only is there a stride being made in New Zealand for the wrongly convicted but also there is progress being made in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom it is possible for one to apply for wrongful conviction compensation through a government agency that allows for them to be able to apply for benefits and services. This is done by completing a form and sending it to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The decision is then made by the Justice Secretary as to whether or not some form of payment is deserved by the victim. This can mean that a decision could be made that there would be no need for the compensation and no right to it as well although it has been stated that this is highly unlikely in these situations. There are also some limitations and timelines to which the country adheres and they are strict so the victims need to know their rights and they should know that they must apply immediately to be considered for such payment (Compensation for Wrongful Conviction 2008, pp 1-2). It is unclear in the UK as to how one is supposed to learn about these programs and the right to compensation as it seems that it is not something that every wrongly convicted person has been aware of. There has been a lot of information available about the overall use of the follow up procedures and their ability to truly help those people living in the United Kingdom. In 2005 a lot of statistical data was published on this situation in order to the UK’s government to be on board for the Freedom of Information ACT 2000. In these reports it was reported that during the time period as to how many of the wrongful conviction applications were a result of HM Customs and Exise. These cases being more critical as they were entailing a lot more hardships for the wrongly convicted then other standard cases. The issues here include the fact that not all of the victims who were wrongly convicted were awarded compensation and not all of the victims applied for these compensation benefits so one could infer that there is not a lot of information available for those victims of wrongful conviction (Applications for Compensation Following Wrongful Conviction 2005, pp 1-2). Although there have been strides in many countries for those who have been wrongly convicted there is still a long way to go for them to be able to get full compensation for the hardships that they have/will face. The overall solution for those who have been wrongly convicted is a compensation to help the victim to be able to manage life on his/her own without having to face further persecution and issues that are currently on hand for these individuals. A solution for each of the above mentioned countries could be the same. It would a standardized form of follow through. There should be instant proof of one’s innocence and there should be public recants of the crimes which they were wrongly convicted for. The victim’s records should be cleared and it should be safe for them to apply for employment or housing with the persecution that would be there if they were to still have the conviction and the issues associated with it held over their heads. Another thing that needs to be done is a monetary settlement. This monetary settlement should include money for their time served in order to compensate in some way for the life that was lost while these victims were behind bars. Some of the worst parts of wrongful conviction are that the wrongly convicted are typically convicted of the worst crimes, that being the crimes of rape or murder. These wrongly convicted are then required to work out a plan for how they are to get their life back on track after having had mostly everything taken from them in an act of vigilantism on the part of law enforcement and the people in the community. This is often very hard for these wrongly convicted and wrongly accused as this past will undoubtedly follow them. Whether or not they had nothing to do with the crime the stigmas and the negative opinions of others will continue until there is some type of law in place to help assume the responsibility for helping these victims to be able to get back on their feet and no longer be wrongly subjected to these forms of harm and oppression. There needs to be a set standard for compensations and programs in place to help the wrongly convicted to be able to better their lives and themselves.