When an individual is wrongly convicted, it means the person has been punished and sentenced for a crime he/she has not committed. In destructive cases like these, the faith of the masses of the judicial system is lost.
A wrongful conviction not only devastates the innocent person and their loved ones but also diminishes the integrity of the justice system and harms the public good.
A wrongful conviction not only devastates the innocent person and their loved ones but also diminishes the integrity of the justice system and harms the public good.
In such cases, make sure you hire wrongful conviction attorneys in New York. There are a number of wrongful conviction law firms in NYC that can help you get out of the situation as quickly as possible.
Furthermore, there are a number of factors due to which an innocent is subjected to the brutality of wrongful convictions. For example the defects and incompetence in the investigation that is carried out by the investigatory machinery, deficiencies in the process, and wrong appellate stages of the criminal justice system.
Mentioned below are some of the other causes of wrongful convictions.
Eyewitness Misidentification: Eyewitness misidentification is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions in the US. Over 76% of DNA vindication cases have involved convictions based on wrong identification proves. A lot of factors can affect the reliability of an identification, mainly the simple fallibility of human memory.
Unvalidated Forensic Science: Forensic science is an essential tool. But a lot of forensic methods and techniques have not been approved by the scientific community. Unvalidated forensic science, for example, hair and fiber comparison, and bite mark analysis, have played an important role in over 50 percent of convictions later overturned by the use of DNA evidence, proving that there have to be higher standards for forensic testimony at trial.
False Confessions: People who are accused have made statements, confessed, or plead guilty in approximately 25% of DNA exonerations in the US. A lot of factors have contributed to wrong confessions, such as bad health of the accused. These factors lead to the threatened and confused defendant, who will accept the crime in an attempt to relieve their present discomfort.
Poor Defense Lawyering
Defendants are guaranteed a right to counsel but an ineffective defense attorney can lead to the wrongful conviction of a factually innocent person. Inadequate defense lawyering can include the overall failure to prepare for trial, to investigate the crime and the defendant’s alibi, and to challenge witnesses and experts.
These are some of the factors that lead to a wrongful conviction.
