Abstract This essay presents the summary of the magnum opus "Twice the Work of Free Labor- The Political Economy of Convict Labor in the New South" by Alex Lichtenstein. This paper shows how Lichtenstein provides an overview and his personal review of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century criminal justice system in order to single out the possible reasons behind the current massive figures representing African American prisoners. The last paragraph is based on personal opinion of the book.
From the Paper "The long-lasting heated debate took its origin from C. Vann Woodward, one of the foremost advocators of the discontinuity thesis. He presented his controversial views regarding the emergence of the New south and its history. He was of the view that as an aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction, a distinct group of tradesmen and business tycoons appeared resulting in the demise of the prestigious class of ancient farmers and agriculturists of the south. However, the real debate began in the 1970s when the "new abolitionsists" or "new continuarians" headed by the pioneer Jonathan Wiener vehemently opposed Woodward by refuting his claims. This group suggested that the society of New South had slightly deviated or changed from what it believed, practiced as rituals and ancient manners. Thus maintaining that southern society was built on chained and enslaved horticultural working class and uncovered the resistance of the people of south toward industrial growth. This class of observers took jailbird labor, sharecropping, and deficit subordination as apparent and potential symbols representing servitude. In addition to the above, they were of the notion that it was due to the act of enslaving blacks that the South remained economically and socially unstable. Where the two clashing groups of historians addressed two major aspects of south that is forced labor and capitalism, Lichtenstein rejects both point of views, he established his own thesis thereby throwing light on a highly neglected yet critical aspect of the underlying issue and settles the continuity debate forever. The convict lease system of the south as well as the chain gang system are considered as the "most appalling features" that the author considers as responsible components for replacing South "to the process of modernization itself" (p. xvi)."
Abstract This paper discusses wrongful conviction in the criminal justice system in the United States. The paper analyzes how it is now evident that there are hundreds of individuals that have been incarcerated who are innocent and how in recent years many of these innocent individuals have been released after serving time on death row or having been incarcerated for decades for crimes that they did not commit.
From the Paper "Wrongful Conviction in the Criminal Justice System Introduction Wrongful convictions have been recorded in the United States since the early 1800s. While it has been historically believed that all individuals convicted of crime claim to be innocent although they are guilty, it is now evident that there are hundreds of individuals that have been incarcerated who are innocent. Furthermore, in recent years many of these innocent individuals have been released after serving time on death row, or having been incarcerated for decades for crimes that they did not commit. The public concern for this issue has only been realized in the past few decades since the advancements of DNA testing, and the ability of scientists to prove innocence in many cases. However, forensic science is not the only method that is used to convict in this country."
Abstract This paper discusses how a wrongful conviction is a miscarriage of justice and occurs when a person is convicted and punished for a crime he did not commit. The paper also looks at how most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn or rectify a wrongful conviction, but this is very difficult to achieve. Finally, the paper looks at the causes of some of these wrongful convictions and contends that when an innocent person is wrongfully convicted, it is definitely a serious miscarriage of justice.
Outline:
Introduction
The Causes of Wrongful Convictions Case Examples
Suggestions to Eliminate Wrongful Convictions Conclusion
From the Paper "The most common reason for a wrongful conviction is because of a mistaken I.D. Studies have been done over the years to determine the error percentage. But from 1932 when the first study done by Borchard through 1996 conducted by Huff, Rattner, and Sagarin, the percentages range anywhere from 45% to 60%. The biggest reason for witness misidentification is because most police departments show victims pictures simultaneously rather than one at a time. Studies show fewer errors are made when pictures are shown one at a time. In addition, sometimes victims want to identify the offender so badly that he or she may identify anyone who even remotely looks like the person or persons who wronged them."
Abstract The paper discusses the case of "Solesbee versus Balkcom", which highlighted whether a Georgia State Code that permits the governor to determine whether a convict has become insane after his or her conviction and sentence, violates the U.S. Constitution. The paper notes that the Georgia Code Sections 27-2602, provides the governor with the authority to appoint medical doctors to examine a convict and make a declaration of sanity or otherwise. The paper records that Solesbee had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The paper notes that application was made to the governor for a postponement of this execution on the grounds that since his conviction he had become insane. This paper investigates the background of the case, procedural history of "Solesbee versus Balkcom" summation of the case, the high Court's decision, their rationale of their decision, and personal notes on the Solesbee case.
Outline:
Introduction
Citation
Short Statement of Facts - Background
Brief Procedural History
Summation
Court's decision
Rationale of the Court
Notes
From the Paper "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the due process clause merely prevents a conviction and sentence without providing for a particular process to run its course. Taken at its highest it merely prevents the execution of an insane person and by doing so does not prevent any State implementing a policy for determining whether or not the person who is sentenced is sane or not. The determination of such a question is entirely discretionary and invokes medical rather than legal questions. The discretion afforded the governor, who must consult with medical doctors, cannot be said to give rise to a contravention of the due process clause contained in the Fourteenths Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "
Tags:conviction, sentence, constitutional, habeas, corpus
Abstract The paper asserts that wrongful convictions adversely affect more then just the defendant; they also affect family and friends as well as the public's confidence in the criminal justice system. The paper looks at three past cases of wrongful convictions and identifies changes to the court system as well as the role of innocence commissions in preventing such failures.
Outline:
Abstract
Introduction
Wrongful Conviction #1: Tony Ford for Murder
Wrongful Conviction #2: Larry Peterson for Rape and Murder
Wrongful Conviction #3: Ronald Cotton for Rape and Burglary
Conclusion
From the Paper "The modern American institution of the presumption of innocence as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Coffin v. United States, 156 U.S. 432; 15 S. Ct. 394 is often viewed as a logical implementation of Blackstone's Ratio, the simple premise that insists "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" (Wikipedia). This concept is hardly unprecedented in history and can trace its roots back through English Common Law (of which William Blackstone was a jurist and historian) to the Old Testament (in the book of Deuteronomy) and even as far back as early Roman Law and its Spartan and Athenian contemporaries (Lewis). The driving principle behind this logic is that the one remuneration that can never be made to the wrongfully is that of time and the life that goes with it. Once lost, they cannot be recovered and the injury extends well beyond the convicted."
Abstract This paper stresses that the criminal justice system is a form of theater in its subjective flourishes, which can very much alter what happens to the accused. The author points out that an innocent person can be falsely convicted and spend years in a correctional institution based on his looks and behaviors. The paper relates that Stephen Truscott's wrongful conviction demonstrates the absurdity of what can go wrong when an innocent man refuses to confess to a crime he did not commit. The author underscores that the issue of wrongful accusation and conviction points to possible errors by the police, the courts and the handling of evidence. The paper urges that this issue should be examined in the context of Canadian civil culture, which disdains the criminal, especially in cases where the accused is allegedly responsible for sexual offenses and homicides involving children.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Stephen Truscott's Failure to Demonstrate Remorse
Culture and Criminality
The Wrongful Conviction of Guy Paul Morin
Implications
From the Paper "In October of 1984, Morin was falsely accused of the still unsolved sex murder of 9 year-old Christine Jessop, his next-door neighbor" in Queensville, Ontario. Morin was then aged 25. When Jessop was reported missing, the Durham Regional Police responded and questioned members of the Morin family. It was observed that Guy Paul Morin showed no reaction, looking ahead, as was noted by police as suspicious. This reaction however is seen as one of several typical if unexpected reactions to police questioning, part of what Gudjonsson analyzed as part of the psychology of interrogations, of all kinds, as may produce extreme evasion or non-acceptance that a crime has taken place, as well as unwanted false confessions."
Abstract This essay compares Charles Dickens? "Great Expectations" with Peter Carey's ?Jack Maggs.? The author examines how the portrayal of the convict characters Abel Magwitch and Jack Maggs are compared and contrasted, revealing astonishing similarities between the two characters, despite the different backgrounds of their authors.
From the Paper:
"Peter Carey's novel, "Jack Maggs", and Charles Dicken's "Great Expectations" whilst built on the same story line, were written by two authors from different countries and different times. It would therefore not be amiss for a reader to assume that their respective portrayals of a convict, who earns his wealth in New South Wales and sponsors a London street urchin to gentlemanly status, would differ markedly. This assumption, however, is quickly contradicted upon comparison of the two texts. Both Dickens and Carey, despite their different backgrounds, portray their respective convict characters, Able Magwitch and Jack Maggs, with great empathy."
Abstract This six-page undergraduate paper addresses the use of DNA to overturn prisoners who have wrongly been convicted. DNA testing has made exoneration possible for many innocent convicts. It allows the prevalence of a more just legal system. Unfortunately, this expensive testing is made freely available to convicts only in New York and Illinois. In the rest of the states, the prosecutors, the courts and the governors rule whether a prisoner would have DNA testing. Many prisoners resist this test possibly because they are guilty of crime.
Abstract The paper defines the Higher Education Act, established 30 years ago to offer financial aid to people seeking higher education. It thereafter examines the 1998 provision denying this aid to people with prior drug convictions. The affect of this new provision on colleges and universities throughout the United States is discussed.
From the Paper "But many students and politicians have voiced out against the bill, saying that it is class-discriminatory and racist. Several student and statewide organizations, including the University of Southern California Student Senate and statewide New York and Wisconsin organizations, have recently passed new resolutions speaking out against the bill, on the grounds that financial aid should be given out to academically qualified students who need the aid to attend college."
Abstract This paper discusses the complicated risk management system that balances the possibility of rehabilitation with the degree to which the public may be put at risk if this convicted criminal is not put in jail. The author states that risk control is a controversial topic because it attempts predict future behavior. The paper states that risk control concepts are important for criminals who are struggling with alcohol and drug addictions.
From the Paper "Most cultures are to some extent caught within a pendulum-like fluctuation between the belief in and attempts at rehabilitating those who have committed crimes and a get-tough approach in which rehabilitation is very much secondary to the impulse to punish. In the United States, the third quarter of the last century was a time of cultural commitment to the idea of rehabilitation, especially for young offenders. However, in part in response to the general social unrest that accompanied the war in Vietnam, during the 1970s the commitment to rehabilitation began to wane and the tendency to assess potential future risk to the community at large as more important than the possibility of rehabilitation for individual offenders."
Abstract This reviews the impact of wrongful convictions on the public. In today's world, not a single justice system is really handling criminal cases with one hundred percent accuracy.
Abstract This paper will seek to understand the nature of woman ex-convicts in American prisons, and how they perceive the way society views them. In this manner, we can learn the psychology that they hold after being released into society.
Abstract The first study covered in this paper is by Diana Sculley and Joseph Marolla and is titled "Riding the Bull at Gilley"s?: Convicted Rapists Describe the Rewards of Rape". The paper then looks at the study, "Heterosocial Competence of Rapists and Child Molesters: A Meta Analysis", by Michael Dreznick. The writer shows how each study focuses on the social factors that underlie rape and show a disturbing tendency in men who commit rape, one that views women as commodities and objects.
From the Paper "In contrast to Sculley and Marolla, Michael Dreznick's study once again turns to psychology to study the motives of convicted rapists. Dreznick focuses on the question of "heterosocial competence" and its influence on the behavior and motives of men who commit rape. Dreznick defines heterosocial competence as "the evaluation of a person's performance in heterosexual interactions." Concurrently, the author defines the related concept of heterosocial skills as the "underlying processes that enable a person to successfully interact with members of the other sex" (Dreznick). Dreznick conducted a secondary study of 119 effect sizes on men who were convicted of rape and child sexual abuse. Based on these studies, Dreznick assessed the heterosocial competencies of convicted rapists in the study."
Abstract The first part of this paper looks at the surprising number of convictions that have been overturned due to DNA evidence or the work of tenacious lawyers and relatives. It then examines the difficulties that keep the wrongfully convicted from finding employment, pursuing an education, and re-building their lives upon their release, and the obstacles they once faced in seeking redress from the state. The next part looks at the current difficulties former inmates contend with in their fight to secure compensation for their wrongful convictions. In the last part, the paper looks at the compensation programs in place to address the needs of the wrongfully convicted, paying particular attention to the provisions in the Wrongful Conviction Bill.
From the Paper "A 2002 study by the Associated Press followed the lives of 110 former inmates after their convictions were overturned due to DNA tests. Majority of the men in this study reported that the vindication failed to bring them the fabled happy ending. Due to their lack of education and training, many find it difficult to secure regular jobs. Most of these men spent the ages of 28 through 38 in prison, a period of life that is often seen as the "critical wage-earning years" (Cohen and Hastings). Many analysts thus believe that their current job and financial difficulties could have continuing repercussions through the normal span of a person's wage earning years."
Tags: wage, job, dna, employment, wrongful, conviction, bill
Abstract This paper discusses the book "Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing From the Land Down Under" by Phyllis Edelson. Specifically, it contains an analysis of "The Convict" section, and describes the reality of convict life in Australia two centuries ago. Excerpts of the book are presented to illustrate the harsh existence endured by the convicts.
From the Paper "If the Aboriginal experience in Australia was terrible, then the convict experience in Australia was pure Hell. Some of them were not guilty of any crime, they were just sent to a prison colony because they were in the way of something, like a romance. The early convicts lived little better than animals. "I have taken grass and pounded it, and made soup from a native dog. Any man would have committed murder for a week's provisions" (Edelson 109). Once a convict, a man was no longer a man, he was simply a number. "A Thing ? a Chattel ? a Number ? anything, rather than a man" (Edelson 116). This certainly makes it easier for the guards to treat them like animals, if they are not recognized as men."
