Developing A Strategic Plan For Wrongful Convictions

Overview 

David Harris, in his book, "In Search of Excellence," proposes strategic planning as a significant tool in offering guidance to employees and the general members of staff in improving or assuming a total turnaround in their performance. The author provides details of myriad plans and programs to aid the identification of wrongful convictions, correct such mistakes, and at the same time, lay down the basis for avoidance of such occurrences in the future. This assignment reviews wrongful convictions by referring to David Harris's ideas and then develops a strategic plan for a legal process devoid of wrongful convictions. 

The last few decades have witnessed an increase in the number of individuals who have suffered from wrongful convictions. There are several factors that have facilitated the advancement of wrongful convictions from time to time and especially on the side of the law enforcers: false witnesses, forensic errors, false confessions, prosecutor's misconduct, and unreliable eyewitnesses. However, without the availability of several case studies for comparison, the list becomes mere assumptions. To this effect, the only approach to determining the leading causes of wrongful convictions is sufficient comprehension of the specific factors that are exclusive to inaccurate convictions for several case studies. 

This approach is only applicable to scholars who have developed an interest in establishing what differentiates wrongful convictions from deserved convictions. Additionally, it would be safe if scholars put effort into studying how the criminal justice system notices innocent plaintiffs in order to overcome the challenge of wrongful convictions. In order to fully understand the notion of wrongful convictions and the reason behind the current trend, we need to establish which factors are unambiguously present in trials that prompt the criminal justice system to fairly dismiss or acquit the charges against an innocent plaintiff. This scenario is in most cases referred to as 'near misses'. Near misses are not sufficiently present in trials that prompt the criminal justice system to wrongfully convict a suspect. If we comprehend the stated assertion, we will be closer to understanding and coming up with interventions or regulations that bars the criminal justice system from wrongful convictions any time in the future. 

Executive Summary 

The assignment employs a combination of approaches to determine the leading causes of wrongful convictions. The assignment starts by identifying the main problems that are a priority for the jurisdiction. This is achieved by identifying the causes or what is assumed to influence wrongful convictions as far as criminal justice is concerned. Examples are attached in support of the assertions and the identification of what is being referred to as near misses. Secondly, the motivating mission for the research on wrongful convictions is stated. The mission is based on the real problems identified in the field. In order to address the challenges brought forth by wrongful or erroneous convictions, it is advisable to come up with a code of conduct or values that law enforcers and officers in the field of criminal justice should adhere to.  

Problem identification is based on several variables to establish a common basis for wrongful convictions. These variables include location or region effects, nature of the suspect, nature of the plaintiff, facts as presented to the law enforcers and the prosecution panel, the nature of the work done by the criminal justice system, and the quality of work from the defense side. Arguably, there are various factors that influence erroneous convictions. These factors include forensic errors, the criminal record of the suspect, a weak defense, errors in witness identification, false confession, unreliable eyewitnesses, and the punitive state of the nation. In some cases, non-eyewitnesses appear before the justice system to provide cooked evidence, a factor that leads to the wrongful conviction of a once indicted suspect.  

In order to overcome the problem of erroneous conviction of would-be released victims, there is a need for the development of a set of goals to address these problems. It is upon the law enforcers and the criminal justice system members of staff to work towards administering the duly deserved justice to the convicts. There is significant evidence on the effectiveness of tunnel vision in the criminal justice system processes. Tunnel vision bars the criminal justice system from undertaking self-correcting once they note an error in the process of administering justice. On the same note, tunnel vision offers an efficient framework for updating on the failures by the system in a way that draws the line between wrongful convictions and near misses.  

Proposed strategies for overcoming the effects of erroneous convictions within the criminal justice system will go a long way in not only isolating causes from errors but also play a significant role in preventing wrongful convictions. There is a need for stronger emphasis through all the levels and from both sides of the criminal justice system and the defense. Police officers, the prosecution panel, defense lawyers, and judges should analyze and take notes from past errors before they resolve for grave miscarriages of justice. To this end, there is a need for further research on near misses among both practitioners and researchers. 

Priority Problems for The Jurisdiction 

The main problems identified in this assignment relate to wrongful convictions of criminal suspects in a manner that creates an image of a failed justice system. Arguably, every individual wishes to see justice administered to the right person as compared to setting them free and convicting an innocent party.  

Erroneous convictions are not a new concern; the issue has been within the policies of various justice systems for several decades now. Individuals, groups, and organizations from all aspects of life have put a lot of effort into bringing the issue of wrongful convictions to the limelight. Eventually, the issue has become a matter of national concern as far as the administration of justice is concerned. Even though the exact number of people who have suffered under wrongful convictions is unknown, the increase in the number of exonerations brings out the seriousness of the issue in our judicial systems.  

In light of the judicial system's issue at hand, we would not be as blind as not to note the efforts put by law enforcement officers, judges, defense lawyers, prosecutors, and the juries in ensuring that it is always the right person who is brought to justice. However, despite the efforts put by a vast majority, the problem of wrongful convictions is still with us. 

Mistrust and a weakened bond between community members and law enforcement officers is another priority problem for consideration within the jurisdiction. Members of the community are reluctant to reporting wrongdoers to the police officers, while the police officers are reluctant to taking action once they notice any wrongs within the community. This misunderstanding has dealt a great blow to community policing, an issue that has lead to significant damage to the society. Criminals are free to continue committing crimes and, at the same time, ruin a lot of lives in the process of executing their crime.  

Mission Statement 

There is a need for strategic planning in relation to the increased rate of wrongful convictions to address the challenges facing the criminal justice system. The mission of the strategic plan is to evaluate the issues that surround mistaken arrests, erroneous prosecutions and subsequent wrongful convictions of innocent parties. The plan is to lay out a collection of recommendations that key players in law enforcement and the justice system should evaluate and implement to bring to an end wrongful convictions and administer justice where its duly deserved. 

Additionally, the strategic plan will go a long way in helping the communities affected by the shortcomings in their respective justice systems. The plan outlines the leading causes of erroneous convictions and, at the same time, proposes well crafted and comprehensive policies, protocols, and procedures that form a key component of the investigative practices. It is worth noting that as long as justice and wrongful convictions are concerned, law enforcers are in the forefront in leading the process of reducing or preventing wrongful convictions. 

There are myriad of inaccuracies and procedural failures that lead to mistaken arrests, charges, prosecution and eventually wrongful convictions. This has not been a case on one person but several people who suffered in the hands of an inefficient investigative agency.  

Problems In The Field 

The criminal justice system is faced with many problems, some of which are the leading causes of wrongful convictions. The leading causes of errors in convicting an individual are; 

1. Flawed identification of eyewitnesses 

2. Forensic errors 

3. Prosecution errors 

4. Weak defense representation 

5. False confessions 

6. False testimony 

7. Tunnel vision 

Other than the mentioned causes of wrongful convictions, there are other factors such as racial background, media effects, and shortcomings in the post-conviction redress that facilitate wrongful convictions. 

Flawed identification of eyewitnesses 

Over 75% of the known wrongful convictions, especially on matters relating to sexual assault and rape are attributed to eyewitness identification. Human beings play a key role in identifying the eyewitnesses in a crime scene. Psychological shortcomings attached to human judgement are the greatest contributors of errors in eyewitness identification. When an individual is stressed, it becomes quite hard to give an account of events as they took place in the scene of crime. When a crime is executed using weapons or firearms, the victim ends up concentrating more on the firearm such that they cannot recount on the the physical appearance of the criminal. This challenge is more recurrent when the victim and the assailant have different racial backgrounds.  

Errors from eyewitness identification can also be facilitated by the excessively suggestive nature of the identification process. The investigative agencies tend to ask a lot of questions that makes the witness to bend the information and distort the details. From a practical point of view, suggestiveness can be integrated into the identification procedure through two varied ways. First, police officers or other investigative agencies can affirm the identity of the witnesses. This can either take place during the investigation stage or during the identification process in the court proceedings. The suggestiveness can be as nice as the investigative agent of enforcement officer heaping praise to the witness for their service. The only shortcoming of this approach is that it instill a false sense of confidence to the witness even if they are wrong in the information they are giving. In most cases, the witness might not realize that their confidence is becoming overly inflated.  

The second form of suggestiveness in the identification process is employed by the enforcement officers to single out the suspect from a group of people. A perfect example is lining up the suspects. The suspect might be having unique physicality such as height, colour, stature, and type of hair or hairstyle. With presentation of body and physical appearances, it would be easy for the witness to identify the main suspect from a group. By so doing, the enforcement officers foregoes independent judgement in identifying the actual offender. This approach may be flawed since the witness may confuse people's appearances and end up presenting the wrong person for conviction.  

False Confessions 

It is pretty hard for the members of the public to believe that someone would confess to having committed a crime that he actually did not commit. However, research work is available which shows that false confessions occur. Additionally, the studies further explain how false confessions take place. According to Leo 2008, studies on wrongful convictions show that there is between 14% to 25 % instances of false confessions on the cases that were referred to. Information provided by the national innocence project estimates that close to 75% of DNA exoneration in cases related to homicides had a lot of false confessions (White, 2003). with the presentation of such facts, it is evident enough that false confessions take place and have played a role in increasing the number of wrongful convictions within the criminal justice system. When a false confession is introduced in a lawsuit, the innocent party is almost always convicted of a crime they did not commit. 

Further, it is evident that there is not one type, logic or cause of the myriad instances of false confession. A majority of police officers and law enforcers play a role in introducing false confessions by persuading, influencing, and complying with a party in the lawsuit. Under various statuses of the investigation process, police officers stand a chance to incite false confessions, while some type of people are highly vulnerable to investigative pressure which renders them victims manipulation and end up giving false confessions. In order to gather information on why innocent individuals end up giving false confessions, we need to have an insight into the investigation and interrogation process used by the police officers to identify suspects of certain criminal activities. The approach is more of a psychology game right from the pre-admission phase, to the admission stage and finally at the interrogations phase.  

There are a number of errors that emanate from a police-induced false confession. These errors are most like to lead to an erroneous conviction of an innocent individual. The first error takes place when the investigative agents categorize an innocent individual as a guilty individual. As Davis and Leo presents to us, "once specific suspects are targeted, police interviews and interrogations are thereafter guided by the presumption of guilt" (2006: 123). the decision on whether to embark on a interrogation process or not is the most significant point in the investigations procedure. Police officers will only force a false confession when they conduct the investigation and interrogation on an innocent party. If the police officers would only interrogate the guilty ones, cases of false confessions would drastically reduce which in turn reduces the probability of erroneous or wrongful convictions. Police officers will, in most cases use the details from the pre-admission phase to cook a suspects narrative which they later present in court or before the prosecutor, thus reducing the possibility of administering justice to the innocent suspect. 

Tunnel Vision 

Police officers, judges, and prosecutors are human beings and like each one of us, they prone to tunnel vision. Tunnel vision is a scenario whereby, the more the law enforcers believe in the truthfulness of evidence presented, the more they are likely not to consider any alternative evidence introduced no matter how legit it may be. Experts in the criminal justice system will in most cases, pay attention to the suspect as presented to them by the police officers, form a case and prepare to convict the suspect while bypassing any evidence that would set the suspect free. The result is that the innocent party proceeds to the next stages of conviction and ends up being convicted of a crime they might not have executed. There is the possibility of tunnel vision at any phase of the criminal justice process. A law enforcement officer might rely so much on information provided by a witness and ignore any other information, especially forensic details as gathered from the crime scene. Tunnel vision deprives a convict of a fair hearing. 

False Testimony 

A significant number of wrongful convictions has a direct relationship to false testimonies presented to law enforcers by individuals with an ill motive, more specifically for personal gains. In most cases, informers are rewarded for any crucial information they present to the investigative agencies related to a criminal investigation. On their side, the agencies do not conduct an analysis to determine the authenticity or reliability of the information as presented to them by their informers. The informers are referred to as snitches whose information is largely founded on lies. There are so many cases across the world in which victims were convicted based on false testimonies against them. In such cases, no facts are presented as it would amount to undermining the testimony as provided. False testimony leads to wrongful and erroneous convictions of innocent people. 

Forensic Errors 

In cases where a criminal activity took place with no eyewitnesses to give an account of the events as they took place, the investigating agencies rely on DNA samples collected from the crime scene. DNA samples have been widely accepted as a source of evidence for an executed criminal activity. The most popular approach in forensics is the sampling of fingerprints and footprints as collected from the crime scene. Fingerprints provide quite reliable information for some cases that are widely referred to as sensitive cases. However, despite the fact that each individual has their unique fingerprints, the method has some shortcomings that would as well lead to wrongful convictions if the necessary steps are not followed. The fingerprinting methods lacks a set standard for validating the match as related to the samples collected from a crime scene. In some jurisdictions, fingerprints are not accepted as a reliable source of evidence for a criminal activity.  

Fingerprints are barely the most contested forensic approach applied. Another troublesome forensic method is the comparison of hair grains as collected from the crime scene and those gathered from a suspect. Contrary to fingerprints, hair comparison has been accepted by various jurisdictions as a reliable source of evidence to convict a suspected of the said crime if there is any convincing evidence. A microscope is used to do the comparison between the hair samples and indicates any form of relationship. If the two samples do not match, the suspected individual is set free and any charge against him is dropped. However, there are several studies that have questioned the reliability of hair samples in providing sufficient evidence to confirm charges against a crime suspect. According to information provided by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Laboratory Proficiency Testing Program, hair comparison is one of the most unreliable forensic approach in application for criminal investigations. Laboratory studies from the showed that some hair samples for comparison had close to 70% error, with a good number of laboratories getting incorrect results, or else results that did not match the sample provided from the crime scene. 

Prosecution Errors 

In most of the world jurisdictions, prosecutors and judges take a vow to observe integrity and administer justice in the most fairway. The observance of the oath means that the prosecution is at liberty to drop any charge against a suspect in the event that there is no sufficient evidence to confirm their involvement in crime. However, the prosecutors may engage in suggestive witness training or deny the defense team access to the presented evidence. At such a situation the prosecutor places themselves in a position of giving an erroneous conviction. In some cases, the law enforcers or police officers may fail to provide the prosecutor with necessary information and evidence, which makes the prosecutor to offer weak judgement and eventually leads him to convicting an innocent person.  

Weak Defense Representatio n 

In the event that the prosecutors fail in establishing the authenticity of the evidence as presented against a suspect, the defense team should take the responsibility of establishing facts related to the charges as presented before the justice system. Weak defenses are the leading causes of wrongful convictions and other instances such as death sentence to a crime suspect. Insufficient funds have been identified as the main cause of weak defense. When an individual is charged with a criminal offense and does not have enough funds, he stages a weak defense that will in most cases lose the case. Although the available evidence should be used in determining the fate of a suspect, a good defense attorney may change the fate of his client. 

Proposed Strategic Plan To Overcome The Challenges of Wrongful Convictions 

With the current trend of wrongful convictions that places innocent defenders at a risk of serving a jail term for a crime they did not commit, there is the need to come up with a strategic plan to address each of the causes of erroneous convictions. The following is the proposed strategies for a policing agent whose main aim is to prevent wrongful convictions in the justice system, now and in the future. 

1. Law enforcement agencies should engage in full investigation and conduct serious evaluation of the evidence provided to them in an attempt to address the shortcomings of eyewitness identifications. 

2. In order to prevent bias in the investigations stage, law enforcement agencies should come with a system that scrutinizes a case to determine if investigation bias affected the case in any way. Additionally, there is a need for to come up with a set of policies to appreciate, address and restrict investigative bias for any case brought before the criminal justice system. 

3. In order to overcome the forensic errors, all the interested parties should cooperate and work as a unit and improve the deadlines for the acquisition of DNA samples and the presentation of the test results before the justice system.  

4. In the case of false confessions and false testimonies, the police officers should come with a way of capturing audio recording for all the interrogations and investigation procedures.  

Expected Obstacles 

1. Uncooperative witnesses. 

2. Inefficient system to implement the laid down strategies. 

3. Lack of sufficient resources to facilitate the implementation of the strategies. 

4. Lack of a reliable communication channel to pass information from one point to another. 

The obstacles would be overcome by ensuring that each of the laid down strategies are dealt with in a single unit. It will be easier to win the cooperation of the witnesses by ensuring that there exists a good relationship between the police officers and the members of the public through community policing. 

If the proposed strategies are adhered to, the will be a significant decline in the number of erroneous convictions. Consequently, innocent people will be served their duly deserved justice. 

References 

Davis, D., & Leo, R.A. (2006). Strategies for preventing false confessions and their consequences. In M.R. Kebbell & G.M. Davies (Eds.), Practical psychology for forensic investigations and prosecutions (pp. 121-149). West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 

Thomas, J. P. 2012. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies. Business & Economic Management. Published by Harper Business. Pp.400. ISBN. 0062263617, 9780062263612