Reflection #4

penvenh — 2024-06-07 06:21:28 UTC

Forensic evidence must be objective for accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system when you are presenting forensic evidence which can come in the form of DNA, fingerprints, or hair evidence which can be represented as scientific evidence for the jurors and courtroom. The evidence needs to be as accurate as possible so it can distinguish both the innocent and the guilty in court and convince the people who it comes from as well. Fairness ensures both parties rather than being one-sided or biased so it makes the trial understand the factual information and not false assumptions. Also, the evidence establishes trust and confidence that whatever is being presented is reliable and validated and makes the people convinced it is true and believable. In the documentaries this week the outside factors that might have been played during the investigation of both cases in Central Park 5 and the Amanda Knox case that influenced the cases and investigation cases would be media build-up being one of the major influences. Media stories are crucial for the public to understand what is going on in the city, state, or even country about criminal cases. These stories can sometimes be exaggerated and chaotic to make the situation even worse for innocent people involved in criminal cases. This could lead to pressure on the police to solve the crime right away to ensure the public's safety and rush in to arrest individuals who didn’t even commit the crime. Also in both documentaries, there were signs of confirmation bias as well. In the Amanda Knox documentary, Amanda was seen by the police to be a crazy disrespectful American who they didn’t like in the beginning and perceived to arrest her because she was the only American college student to happen to be near a murder case of an exchange Italian student. In Central Park 5 the teenagers were taken in custody and were questioned for more than 30 hours about the assault on the white jogger but the police were convinced and believed that these 5 committed the crime because of racial bias as well but mostly because they were also near where the crime was taken place too. All of this could have been prevented with diverse perspectives for both cases because both were taken care of by departments that didn’t like the individuals in the first place because they based the individuals on race, gender, and age. Also, there was a lack of forensic evidence that wasn’t used sooner when these crimes were committed because both police assumed that these innocent people committed the crime without careful consideration of collecting DNA evidence of the crime scene but they did but did it right after they got sent into prison to serve their time. If they had been used sooner this could have prevented the arrest of both the 5 teenagers and Amanda Knox and her boyfriend.

GSS 3231 Reflection 4 by Hunter Penven

Reflection #4