2,000 Convicted, Then Exonerated... 23 Years Lat

[Jermyn Davidson]

The quoted paragraph below caused me to pause as I thought about the gravity of this problem, when it does occur.


"On TV, an exoneration looks like a singular victory for a criminal defense attorney, "but there's usually someone to blame for the underlying tragedy, often more than one person, and the common culprits include defense lawyers as well as police officers, prosecutors and judges. In many cases, everybody involved has egg on their face," according to the report."


The poor and even not-so-poor in America depend on the concept of having a Public Defender as a "good lawyer" is not something that most Americans can afford.

Still, think about how EXPENSIVE it can be to not have a "good lawyer"!


9 out of 10 of those exonerated are men.
50% of those men are black.



It's never been lost on me that sometimes sloppy or even simply corrupt law enforcement officers have a way of making bad things situations worst-- at times. Still, I am not of the opinion that most police officers are sloppy or corrupt.

I am just thinking about the magnitutde of the legal system failure when the Public Defender assigned to defend you, fails you.

Think about that!


Our justice system, albeit best in the world, when it fails, it really fails.


http://news.yahoo.com/study-2-000-co...040242436.html

[aegsm76]

It seems as though they have studied 873, but have some details on the 1100 others.
Here was an interesting snippet.

"In half of the 873 exonerations studied in detail, the most common factor leading to false convictions was perjured testimony or false accusations. Forty-three percent of the cases involved mistaken eyewitness identification, and 24 percent of the cases involved false or misleading forensic evidence."

The 9 out of 10 men and half of the men being black, probably mirror the overall prison population. Which means to me that no one group is more likely to be wrongly convicted than any other.

[AreYouReady?]

Even one innocent man locked up for a crime they did not commit, black or white is too many. But the fact that half of the exonerated men are black shows the world that something is wrong here.

Depending upon what source, African-Americans make up about 12-14% of the USA population.

Below comes from a 4-year-old article but perhaps not much has changed since this was written.

Black males represented the largest percentage (35.4 percent) of inmates held in custody, followed by white males (32.9 percent) and Hispanic males (17.9 percent)."

The United States leads the industrialized world in incarceration. In fact, the U.S. rate of incarceration (762 per 100,000) is five to eight times that of other highly developed countries, according to The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice think tank.

Some of the key factors for the record imprisonment rate include:

Race: Black males continue to be incarcerated at an extraordinary rate. Black males make up 35.4 percent of the jail and prison population — even though they make up less than 10 percent of the overall U.S population. Four percent of U.S. black males were in jail or prison last year, compared to 1.7 percent of Hispanic males and .7 percent of white males. In other words, black males were locked up at almost six times the rate of their white counterparts.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?i...1#.T7r45FF7QyE

[bbyrd009]

Well, the theory goes that blacks commit more of the crimes,
but this is also just an accurate manifestation.
Really, it's amazing that they are being exonerated,
and compensated. Amen for that.
Given the stats you provided, you gotta feel for
the surely mis-adjudicated cases that had no
dna evidence to consider.

[aegsm76]

Originally Posted by AreYouReady?

Even one innocent man locked up for a crime they did not commit, black or white is too many. But the fact that half of the exonerated men are black shows the world that something is wrong here.

Depending upon what source, African-Americans make up about 12-14% of the USA population.

Below comes from a 4-year-old article but perhaps not much has changed since this was written.

Black males represented the largest percentage (35.4 percent) of inmates held in custody, followed by white males (32.9 percent) and Hispanic males (17.9 percent)."

The United States leads the industrialized world in incarceration. In fact, the U.S. rate of incarceration (762 per 100,000) is five to eight times that of other highly developed countries, according to The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice think tank.

Some of the key factors for the record imprisonment rate include:

Race: Black males continue to be incarcerated at an extraordinary rate. Black males make up 35.4 percent of the jail and prison population — even though they make up less than 10 percent of the overall U.S population. Four percent of U.S. black males were in jail or prison last year, compared to 1.7 percent of Hispanic males and .7 percent of white males. In other words, black males were locked up at almost six times the rate of their white counterparts.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?i...1#.T7r45FF7QyE

AYR - I agree with your assessment that something is wrong. Now, what is wrong is the question?
As someone who grew up in a multi-cultural environment and spent as much time in black households as white, I believe I have some insight. My church is located in a very racially mixed area and we regularly spend time in the government housing part of town doing outreach. Right now, I have two young black children in my house.
I say this to establish my "street cred" in this area.
The black family unit was almost destroyed by LBJ's effort to help the poor in the 60's. Single women figured out that they could make a living from the government simply by having children and being paid for those children by the government. This may have been an acceptable life for the women, but it was not for the children. Children without a father a far more prone to be abused and to grow up and be imprisoned than ones that grow up in a father/mother household.
Although welfare reform under Clinton indirectly addressed this problem, the culture still exists and is now affirmed as normal. See Murphy Brown for the societal affirmation...
The drug culture of the 60's thru today, also took a heavy toll on this community. This was made worse by the large numbers of single young men, who could not find a woman who wanted a committed relationship.
What we are left with today is a culture that believes that the only way to be a success is to be successful in sports or in illegal activities.
I remember one young man who lived in my house for about 9 months. He came from a horrible family background, with almost all of them in prison at one point. He had a world of potential, was as smart as any young man I have ever been around, but today resides in a prison until 2018 for robbing a taxi driver.
Until the grass-roots and churches of the black community began addressing this problem head on, it will not be fixed.
I could go on for days, but I've got to get to work.

[Jermyn Davidson]

Originally Posted by aegsm76

AYR - I agree with your assessment that something is wrong. Now, what is wrong is the question?
As someone who grew up in a multi-cultural environment and spent as much time in black households as white, I believe I have some insight. My church is located in a very racially mixed area and we regularly spend time in the government housing part of town doing outreach. Right now, I have two young black children in my house.
I say this to establish my "street cred" in this area.
The black family unit was almost destroyed by LBJ's effort to help the poor in the 60's. Single women figured out that they could make a living from the government simply by having children and being paid for those children by the government. This may have been an acceptable life for the women, but it was not for the children. Children without a father a far more prone to be abused and to grow up and be imprisoned than ones that grow up in a father/mother household.
Although welfare reform under Clinton indirectly addressed this problem, the culture still exists and is now affirmed as normal. See Murphy Brown for the societal affirmation...
The drug culture of the 60's thru today, also took a heavy toll on this community. This was made worse by the large numbers of single young men, who could not find a woman who wanted a committed relationship.
What we are left with today is a culture that believes that the only way to be a success is to be successful in sports or in illegal activities.
I remember one young man who lived in my house for about 9 months. He came from a horrible family background, with almost all of them in prison at one point. He had a world of potential, was as smart as any young man I have ever been around, but today resides in a prison until 2018 for robbing a taxi driver.
Until the grass-roots and churches of the black community began addressing this problem head on, it will not be fixed.
I could go on for days, but I've got to get to work.

I agree with you in large part, but I won't deny that there are other factors involved too.

Drug laws, specifically "crack" cocaine laws of the 80's and 90's had a terrible effect on the black community-- maybe even more so than crack itself.

The lack of a solid tax base for many areas where there are large black populations also play a huge factor in what we see in the recent past and even now today.


Ironically, it's the policies of well-meaning Democrats that are the sources for the out-of-orbit drug laws and the absence of solid tax bases for communities where there is a large black population.

The tax base problem has such a PROFOUND affect on the local community-- and this problem is not just germane to the black community.


There are some who say that Dr. MLK Jr. wasn't deemed a threat until he attempted to address ECONOMIC and racial inequalities.

Today, just the phrase "economic equality" conjures a picture that I don't think that Dr. MLK Jr. had in mind when he tried to address it.

Affirmative Action policies were designed to help address the issue, albeit indirectly. Now, they help people who are really not in need of the most help.


A bigger question this engenders is can America be Capitalistic without an economic underclass?

[bbyrd009]

An excellent Q. Can one be Capitalistic
absent someone to capitalize upon?

[crakjak]

Originally Posted by bbyrd009

An excellent Q. Can one be Capitalistic
absent someone to capitalize upon?

Your question is misguided. Capitalism when done right abuses no on, business done right is win win, for both business and customer. The heart of the problem is sin in the hearts and minds of both business owner and customer, and neither has a monopoly on morality.

Capitalism is amoral, human brokenness is the problem. We are all flawed, and must guard our hearts daily in light of our commitment to Christ.

[aegsm76]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

I agree with you in large part, but I won't deny that there are other factors involved too.

Drug laws, specifically "crack" cocaine laws of the 80's and 90's had a terrible effect on the black community-- maybe even more so than crack itself.

The lack of a solid tax base for many areas where there are large black populations also play a huge factor in what we see in the recent past and even now today.


Ironically, it's the policies of well-meaning Democrats that are the sources for the out-of-orbit drug laws and the absence of solid tax bases for communities where there is a large black population.

The tax base problem has such a PROFOUND affect on the local community-- and this problem is not just germane to the black community.


There are some who say that Dr. MLK Jr. wasn't deemed a threat until he attempted to address ECONOMIC and racial inequalities.

Today, just the phrase "economic equality" conjures a picture that I don't think that Dr. MLK Jr. had in mind when he tried to address it.

Affirmative Action policies were designed to help address the issue, albeit indirectly. Now, they help people who are really not in need of the most help.


A bigger question this engenders is can America be Capitalistic without an economic underclass?

JD - totally right on here.
I have often wondered what MLK would say about todays society.
I would say that every economic system will always have an economic underclass.
As Jesus said, "The poor ye will always have with you".
I would also say that capitalism is a terrible economic system.
However, it is the best one out there.

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by crakjak

Your question is misguided. Capitalism when done right abuses no on, business done right is win win, for both business and customer. The heart of the problem is sin in the hearts and minds of both business owner and customer, and neither has a monopoly on morality.

Capitalism is amoral, human brokenness is the problem. We are all flawed, and must guard our hearts daily in light of our commitment to Christ.

Well put.