Criticism of the
CJS
Forensics 5.1
October 6, 2014
1
Objective: SWBAT
• Analyze criticisms of the criminal justice
system
2
Criticism
• The innocent go to jail
• False confessions
• Misleading/ circumstantial evidence
• Bias from the jury/ prosecution
• Poor legal counsel
3
The Innocence Project
• Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and
Peter Neufield
• While in law school at Yeshiva
University
• Assist prisoners with attaining DNA testing
to prove their innocence
4
The Innocence Project
• Nationwide they have helped overturn 311
cases
• 244 since 2000
• The first took place in 1989
• Exonerations have been won in 36 states
• 18 were death row inmates
• The average length of sentence was 13.6
years
• Total number of years served was over
4,000
• Average age at the time of conviction 27
5
The Innocence Project
• Race of the 311
• 193 African Americans
• 94 Caucasians
• 22 Latinos
• 2 Asian Americans
• 152 tests led to the arrest of the actual
criminal
• DNA evidence clears a potential suspect
in roughly 25% of cases nationwide
6
• Does the state owe anything to someone that
was wrongfully convicted? Assuming that the
state didn’t do anything illegal?
7
Criticism of the
CJS
Forensics 5.2 – The Death Penalty in the United
States
October 23, 2013
8
Capital Punishment
The penalty of death differs from all other forms of criminal
punishment, not in degree but in kind.
It is unique in its rejection of rehabilitation of the convict as a
basic purpose of criminal justice. And it is unique, finally, in its
absolute renunciation of all that is embodied in our concept of
humanity.
-Justice Potter Stewart
Furman v Georgia
9
The Death Penalty
• (1) the defendant is charged with a crime for which
the death penalty is a legally authorized sanction,
(2) the defendant intended or had a high degree of
culpability with respect to the death of the victim,
and (3) one or more aggravating factors specified
in a statutory list are present in the case. The
statutory aggravating factors include such factors
as the commission of a killing in the course of
another serious offense, the defendant's having a
prior criminal history involving serious violent
offenses, the commission of a killing after substantial
planning and premeditation, killing multiple victims,
or endangering the lives of other persons (in
addition to the person killed) in committing the
crime. 18 U.S.C. 3591-93.
10
The Death Penalty
• (1) the defendant is charged with a crime for which
the death penalty is a legally authorized sanction,
(2) the defendant intended or had a high degree of
culpability with respect to the death of the victim,
and (3) one or more aggravating factors specified
in a statutory list are present in the case. The
statutory aggravating factors include such factors
as the commission of a killing in the course of
another serious offense, the defendant's having a
prior criminal history involving serious violent
offenses, the commission of a killing after substantial
planning and premeditation, killing multiple victims,
or endangering the lives of other persons (in
addition to the person killed) in committing the
crime. 18 U.S.C. 3591-93.
11
The Death Penalty
• (1) the defendant is charged with a crime for which
the death penalty is a legally authorized sanction,
(2) the defendant intended or had a high degree of
culpability with respect to the death of the victim,
and (3) one or more aggravating factors specified
in a statutory list are present in the case. The
statutory aggravating factors include such factors
as the commission of a killing in the course of
another serious offense, the defendant's having a
prior criminal history involving serious violent
offenses, the commission of a killing after substantial
planning and premeditation, killing multiple victims,
or endangering the lives of other persons (in
addition to the person killed) in committing the
crime. 18 U.S.C. 3591-93.
12
The Death Penalty
• (1) the defendant is charged with a crime for which
the death penalty is a legally authorized sanction,
(2) the defendant intended or had a high degree of
culpability with respect to the death of the victim,
and (3) one or more aggravating factors specified
in a statutory list are present in the case. The
statutory aggravating factors include such factors
as the commission of a killing in the course of
another serious offense, the defendant's having a
prior criminal history involving serious violent
offenses, the commission of a killing after substantial
planning and premeditation, killing multiple victims,
or endangering the lives of other persons (in
addition to the person killed) in committing the
crime. 18 U.S.C. 3591-93.
13
The Death Penalty
• 18 USC 3591-93
• Conditions
• The Death Penalty needs to be “on the table”
• The Defendant needs to have a “high degree” of
culpability
• Aggravating factors
•
•
•
•
•
Killing in the commission of another crime (Felony Murder)
Premeditation
History of violent offenses
Multiple victims
Endangering the lives of others
14
Furman V Georgia
• William Furman was a burglar
• He “accidentally” killed the a family member of the
house he was burglarizing
• Georgia held a sentencing trial to apply the death
penalty
• It lasted one day
• The jury had nearly complete discretion to level and
sentence they wanted
• It appeared that poor, black (and poor and black)
defendants were receiving the death penalty at a
much higher rate
15
The decision
• 5-4 Decision overturning the Sentence
• There were over 200 pages of concurrence and
dissent
• Brennan, Douglas, and Marshall (Thurgood)
• The Death Penalty was almost certainly cruel and
unusual
• Stewart, White
• The Death Penalty can be used, but must be done
fairly and openly
• There can be no arbitrary application
• The dissenters
• Said this was a matter for the states and personal
feelings should not come into play
16
17
18
Criticism of the
CJS
Forensics 5.3 – Effective Representation
October 25, 2013
19
Capital Punishment
The penalty of death differs from all other forms of criminal
punishment, not in degree but in kind.
It is unique in its rejection of rehabilitation of the convict as a
basic purpose of criminal justice. And it is unique, finally, in its
absolute renunciation of all that is embodied in our concept of
humanity.
-Justice Potter Stewart
Furman v Georgia
20
Effective Representation
• The Sixth Amendment
• Guarantees the right to legal counsel
• Gideon v Wainwright
• No matter how poor/ the level of case you are
guaranteed legal counsel
21
Effective Representation
• Legal Services Corporation
• Federal Non-Profit Corporation
• Signed into law in 1974
• Richard Nixon
• LSC is the single largest source of funding for civil
legal assistance in the country
• “there is a need to provide high quality legal
assistance to those who would be otherwise unable
to afford adequate legal counsel.”
22
Who gets legal aid?
• In 2012
•
•
•
•
Over 2/3 were women
46% white
27% black
18 % Hispanic
• It cost over $800 million to fund LSC programs
nationwide
• Almost 2 million people served
• 809, 830 cases closed
• 3, 945 full time attorneys
• That is roughly 206 cases per full-time attorney
• 134 local legal aid programs
23
The LSC comes under fire
• Nixon made the corporation legal
• Regan cut the funding.
• Regan did not feel that it was the role of the federal
gov’t to fund this program and attempted to defund
the entire corp
• It remained but tit was severely limited
• Today LSC is a functioning non-profit funded in part
by the government
• It also gets funding from charitable foundations and
other sources
• In the current budget LSC received just under $341
million dollars in federal funding
24
Classwork:
• 1) What is the biggest challenge facing legal aid
services right now?
• 2) Why is it such a challenge? How do individual
politics play into the matter?
• 3) Why is it so important to ensure that the poor
have effective legal representation?
25