Wrongful Conviction by Jaden Akines

Canada has a problem where people are pressured into pleading guilty for crimes they did not commit.

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:12:34 UTC

One of most targeted individuals for wrongful conviction are women. Wendy Scott was one of them. She has been diagnosed with cognitive challenges, but that was ignored by the court. Scott chose to plead guilty because she was pressured, and for the sake of her family. Many women plead guilty for their own good as well as their families’. Scott was released three years after her original trial, but this problem has happened to over 1,200 citizens who struggle with mental health.

Secondary characters are overlooked in wrongful conviction cases.

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:17:08 UTC

The “secondary” characters in a wrongful conviction case are harmed just as much as the innocent person. The ones investigating often ignore and overlook what the secondary characters have to say, and focus all their attention on the person convicted. Sometimes, the secondary characters can prove the convict’s innocence, but are not taken seriously. By incarcerating this innocent person, you change their life and expose them to the awful environments inside of a prison. Even if they are found innocent, after exposing them to prison, they aren’t the same person the secondary characters lost.

Racial Profiling plays a part in certain wrongful convictions.

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:20:48 UTC

The Black community is often the victims of racial profiling. From the late 80’s to 2012, two-thirds of sexual assault wrongful conviction cases had Black defendants. This was primarily due to the racist stereotype that Black men were “rapists”. These men were exonerated for periods of time, and were eventually found innocent, but they now had criminal records. This prevents them from obtaining jobs and fitting in with society. They lose time with their family and a part of their life.

After learning about the problems with the death penalty, Japanese students show more support for the wrongfully convicted.

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:25:54 UTC

Journalists Watamura and Ioku were concerned about Japan’s policy on the death penalty. In 2021, over 2,000 people were executed. The death penalty is an awful fate for those wrongfully convicted. The journalists presented an essay to Japanese college students on several wrongfully convicted people’s stories. After reading, the students all favored the death penalty less and were in support for the wrongfully convicted people. Giving a wrongfully convicted person the death penalty is a failure on the legal system’s part, and it scars their family heavily.

How these points support my thesis

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:29:11 UTC

These four points support my thesis because Wendy Scott was pressured into pleading guilty, and her mental problems were ignored. The secondary characters are overlooked in wrongful conviction cases, and the innocent suffers for no reason. Black men are racially profiled, and then thrown in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. This causes irreversible changes to their future. People in Japan are wrongfully convicted, and potentially given the death penalty. Once they are killed, you can’t change that back.

Conclusion

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:29:43 UTC

Wrongful conviction does not just happen to one group of people, it happens all over the globe, all the time. Not only is the innocent harmed, but so is their family, their friends, and their future. As I stated before, innocent Black men were eventually released, but their life was changed for them. Japanese people who are wrongfully convicted have the chance to be killed, taking them away from their family forever. This problem cannot continue, but the legal system comes to conclusions quickly and ignores certain parts of the evidence.

Refined Thesis

akinesj — 2023-12-12 20:30:16 UTC

Those who are wrongfully convicted have their lives ruined by the legal system, with seemingly no remorse for them or their families.