Innocent = Guilty
By : Leneece Rincon & Jaylen Williams
Criminal Justice System
The criminal justice system has been treating people unfairly for so long. How do we know the innocent vs guilty anymore? If they are guilty for they’re wrong doing, what is a fair sentence and not a sentence that seems convenient?
Serving life in prison has been about separating harm from society and ultimately helping the convict from their wrong doing but it turned into a cruel punishment other than to teach a lesson, especially if it turns out the person serving a life sentence is actually innocent.
Life sentences:
As the name applies, life sentences are sentence given to one for life. One may be eligible for parole after a set of years but some serve consecutive life sentences. Consecutive sentences are the ineligibility of getting a parole and having to serve life in prison as a whole. These sentences are forced onto convicts that have served as irrational, evil or any type of way seriously dangerous to society.
Though some innocent people are being sentenced to life in prison for a crime they did not commit. An estimated 1% "of the US prison population, approximately 20,000 people, are falsely convicted." This particular sentence comes from a deep moral code that society views. It's also very rare that people ever have a successful trial until years go by.
This is an image of Anthony Wright, claiming the money the city was giving him, Becoming the most high payed case amount almost being $10 million.
After serving 25 years in prison, he finally got exonerated after DNA shows that he was not the one that had raped or murdered anyone from that case.
This is a picture of David Sparks hugging his mother, Tameeka Sparks-Hawkins, after serving 12 years and counting for a crime he did not commit. Was only 16 years old the day police arrested him.
Standing outside and only being arrested for a curfew violation found himself being in connection with the murder of Gary Hall.
Following after these cases that had many eyewitnesses and even videos on a surveillance camera proven that person was innocent to the crime, we conducted interviews in our very own school community.
Interview results:
We asked a total of 3 questions and also informed our fellow peers on what we were writing about and if we could gain there personal opinion/ experience on this specific topic.
Us : We are writing an article about the criminal justice system and it is about people that are falsely accused and are faced with life sentences. Even being without parole before the year of 2016, when Supreme Court had made it illegal.
Question 1: Do you know anyone right now or anyone that has been falsely accused of a crime that faced years in prison?
Majority answered no while one had stated a family member and others answering close friends. These people were charged for a crime they did not commit, following our next question.
Question 2: Do you know anyone that had successfully gotten though with a trial and proven their innocence?
Ramier Jones: Actually, there is an on-going investigation happening right now, with one of my friends. They’re dropping charges for him, targeting the father with the same convictions.
Others have stated no while some answered with a yes. Our next question is opinion-based meaning that there are no wrong answers.
Question 3: What do you think is the appropriate crime for someone to serve a life sentence?
Zyair Jenkins : Murder and also depending on the level of robbery/theft.
Andrew Drumwright: I think Mass Murder is one, along with Slavery and attempted genocide.
Jaron Tinsley: I don’t think there is one crime that could be worth a life sentence.
Aaron Drumwright: Mass Murder.
Nasir Jones: An appropriate crime would probably be a mass homicide. But people have been arrested and put to jail for store robberies, serving a life sentence and it isn’t right, but for mass homicides, that would be an exception.
Ramirrah Reid: A mass murder shooting or a deathly bombing. Something that is really big and made a huge impact. Small crimes like robbing or illegal armed weapons are minor things that are still important but people shouldn’t be charged a life sentence over it.
Ramier Jones: I believe that any crime toward when they’re unfit to live in a civilization without hurting others is fit for a life sentence. But I do not agree or believe in the death penalty. No one should be put to death.
Everyone that has answered a question in the interview, has given us their permission for their name to be exposed. We also thanked everyone that has answered and participated in our interview.Death Vs Death :
If they’re doing life, they’re dying slowly in their cell everyday. When having the death penalty, that person still waits a long period of time before the time is due, AKA; execution. So what is the difference between a life sentence vs death penalty? How do people distinguish the two?
There is only one huge difference which is a innocent human being put to death with little to no evidence in connection with the case or receiving a life sentence with parole being included. And still, your life is still taken away from you, forever.
After Prison:
Life Sentences makes a huge impact on people that were in prison since they were teenagers and once finally getting out of jail and on parole, it is required for the inmate to have a job in a certain amount of time. An average person who doesn’t have a job and is searching for one will have a better chance at getting that job than someone with a criminal record.
Solutions:
Innocent protection programs can also benefit the lives of the people just successfully getting out of prison and even while in prison.
There are also some project programs that already helps the criminal justice system, for example ¨The Sentencing Project¨.
More research has to be touched on the person that is being convicted.
In retrospect having being able to understand the issue fully helps society be more aware of this issue.