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On the night of April 19th 1989, Trisha Meili was jogging alone in Central Park, New York It is believed that around 9 p.m on her regular jog she would be stopped, attacked, and brutally beaten resulting in a fractured skull and the loss of 75% of her blood. (Innocence Project) The case of the “Central Park Jogger” would become major headlines around the country, and the media coverage would be very intense.

In the American criminal justice system, there are flaws. Many things work well, but there are far too many incidences of some Americans being treated unjustly due to the format of the same system. The criminal justice system has unfairly, unjustly, and irresponsibly wrongfully convicted people. Persons of interest are wrongfully convicted in America more often than you may believe. Five boys would be wrongfully convicted of the rape and attempted murder of Meili. Understanding what went wrong with their case can only help us prevent such a tragedy from happening again. Wrongful convictions can undermine the integrity and structure of the American Legal System, but new reforms and policies could be placed into effect to prevent future erroneous convictions and insure there are no further miscarriages of justice

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The United States, with just 4.4 percent of the world’s population’ has an incredible problem with high prison rates, ‘America houses 22 percent of the global prison population. With about 2.2 million Americans behind bars, ’(Harvard School of public Health, 2016) you would hope that the processes leading to incarceration would be beyond reproach. Unfortunately, even though people know that wrongful convictions happen, there hasn’t been enough research or attention on it, and there are still innocent people in prison. The Central Park 5 would collectively spend almost forty years incarcerated, the ramifications of this wrongful imprisonment are immeasurable. Upon their release, 5 of them would file a lawsuit against New York City, and would be compensated about 42 million dollars for their time, however the money in no way makes up for what they lost.

With wrongful convictions being such a pressing issue, it's very difficult to pinpoint why they happen in each case. Every case is different in its own way but there are only a number of known reasons that create a scenario where this can occur.. Criminologists, detectives, and forensic scientists are only human, and though they work effortlessly to solve cases, they can only work with what evidence and witnesses they have. In the case of the Central Park 5 the “New York police department did not have access to a DNA database until 1994. (WIki Central Park Jogger) Until then, the only way they could use DNA in forensic analysis was by taking the DNA from the scene and then directly from the suspect, so they could not cross examine cases without physical DNA. Without either or, the DNA would become invalid.

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The research around wrongful convictions is quite slim and that is why organizations like the Innocence Project work effortlessly researching old cases and finding people who have been wrongfully convicted. The infamous Central Park 5 would just be one of hundreds of groups to be exonerated with help from the Innocence Project. They work especially well in cases helping those who have been wrongfully convicted due to DNA evidence, “The Innocence Project represented defendants or provided significant assistance in 177 of these cases.” (Harvard School of Public Health)

The most common issues in cases that end with wrongful convictions would be that of mistakes from the detectives and lawyers due to bias. Ulterior motives, along with race, religion, gender, and even communal background are common examples of this. Another form of bias that gets commonly overlooked is preconceived notions about a suspect or case. If a detective startsto receive outside information on a case, or a judge uses other information other than that offered by the defense it is considered biased.

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Detectives can be pressured by the media into making a decision, or become so involved in their professional career that they forget that they could be costing the freedom of an innocent person. Defense attorneys can be willing to push insufficient evidence, and can become obstinate when opposed. “When defense attorneys provide evidence proving their client's innocence, they are often met with animosity from the police, the prosecutor, and the judge. These individuals will ultimately deny any wrongdoing to avoid admitting that a mistake was made.” (Blind Justice) Detectives and attorneys have also been found to become enticed with the possible suspects' guilt; they are willing to do anything to aid in the furtherance and status of their career. “Finally, Godsey (Co-founder of Ohio Innocence project) discusses how these same individuals become so enamored with a suspect's guilt that they choose to overlook pertinent facts that could potentially exonerate them. These agents could even go so far as to manipulate the evidence to implicate the individual who they believe is responsible for the crime.” (Blind Justice) The Central Park 5 would be highly publicized and people would be led to believe that these five specific boys were accountable for this crime.

Donald Trump, a New York City businessman who would go on to become President of the United States, used his influence in the media to share his belief that these boys were indeed guilty. To further push his narrative, he took out a full page ad in the New York Daily News to tell the people of New York that the court should “invoke the death penalty” (Donald Trump New York Daily News 1989)(Wiki Central Park Jogger Case) These boys were convicted in the court of public opinion before they ever stepped foot into a court of law, which i'm sure had a very large effect on the jurors in the box.

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The last concern that appears when researching wrongful conviction is memory analysis. Eyewitness testimony plays a very crucial role in the American criminal justice system, It’s commonly believed to be the most effective evidence in the courtroom. How could it not be? Right. Well human memory plays a very important role in how eyewitness testimony works, and memory is easily distorted. When police give suggestions on a case, or detectives tell someone insufficient information, it can alter someone's memory of what originally happened. “Godsey also discusses how suggestion (either internal or external) has the ability to alter one's memory. This is especially evident in criminal cases where victims are fed information by police officers in order to “accurately” identify their attackers. The author acknowledges that human memory is essentially unreliable and notes that it should not be the sole basis of establishing a case against a suspect.”(Flonnoy 2022) Proving that memory analysis might not be as perfect as perceived.

Officers on scene can play a bigger role than imagined as well due to possible arrogance in the field. “Godsey also examines the idea of human truthfulness and how criminal justice practitioners are trained to detect human deception.’ He goes on to explain how this is especially problematic with seasoned officers, prosecutors, and judges because they can believe that their long tenure in the criminal justice system makes them immune to natural human error.” (Flonnoy 2022) Understanding how the human memory system works is imperative to research on future wrongful convictions. Research on memory analysis is very important if our criminal justice system is going to continue to evolve around eyewitness testimony, which is currently still the best way to narrow down a suspect.

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Wrongful convictions are a serious problem within the United States criminal justice system. Overall they can cause loss of integrity in the government, and should be further studied. The sooner we further our understanding in the accusation and interrogation process, the overpressure and overconfidence of detectives and lawyers and the psychology of memory the sooner we can prevent innocent convictions in the future.

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Harvard School Of Public Health 2016: A Matter of Conviction

https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/a-matter-of-conviction/#:~:text=Conservative%20estimates%20suggest%20that%201,crimes%20they%20did%20not%20commit.

Innocence Project Korey Wise

https://innocenceproject.org/cases/korey-wise/

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, December 1). Central Park jogger case. In Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case

Leo, Richard, Sage Journals 2016 The Criminology of Wrongful Convictions: A decade later.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1043986216673013

Zalman. Marvin. Sage Journals 2011 Citizens attitude Towards Wrongful Convictions

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0734016811428374

Flonnoy. Sydney. Sage Journals 2022 Blind Justice: A former prosecutor explains the psychology and politics of wrongful convictions

https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.stockton.edu/doi/full/10.1177/07340168221082949