COMMENTARY: "5 Ways That Innocent African Americans End Up Behind Bars," by
SUB-HEADING: As the IFC/Amazon Studios film Crown Heights garners
buzz for it’s painstaking look at the case of an innocent man who spent
21 years in prison, the persistent failures of the United States
criminal justice system are again put in the spotlight.
GIST: "Colin Warner is one of countless Black men whose lives were forever changed by the pervasive injustice and systemic prejudice that feeds what has been come to known as “mass incarceration.” [You can read more about his story here.] The U.S. prison population is about 2.3 million (the largest in the history of the world), with most of its inmates in jail for nonviolent offenses. If our prison population were a city, it would be the size of Houston, Texas. U.S. prisons are also disproportionately Black, as African Americans are more likely to be stopped by police, more likely to be arrested, more likely to get charged with mandatory minimums, and receive longer sentences when they are convicted, and this institutional anti-Blackness has a great deal to do with for those incarcerated by wrongful conviction. The story of Colin Warner, a Brooklyn immigrant who spent 21 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, has inspired a powerful film. Here’s a look at the systemic failures that fill prisons, jails, and detention centers with people who shouldn’t be there. "1. Overburdened Defense Lawyers: Too many defense lawyers are overworked and underpaid. On average, a public defender would need an extra six months annually to complete a calendar year’s worth of work. In Missouri, a 2014 study found that the state needed to add 270 more public defenders to represent its poorest defendants adequately. In 2016, Missouri’s head public defender Michael Barrett said that each of his lawyers handled well over a hundred cases at the time. In Florida in 2009, attorneys cleared an average of 2,225 misdemeanors per year. In places like Cole County, Missouri, the caseload of public defenders’ is 225% above their recommended limits. Pressured to lighten their immense workload and speed up trials, public defenders often persuade defendants to take plea deals. This puts those wrongfully accused of a crime in a seemingly impossible situation: plead guilty to a crime you did not commit and receive fines, parole, or years in jail, or drag the case on longer, possibly lose, and be subjected to larger fines and extensively longer jail sentences. This is why more than 90% of their clients plead guilty. 2. Forensic Evidence: Sometimes innocent people are kept in jail because of errors with, mishandling of, and complete omissions of forensic evidence. Many of the wrong convicted don’t have the resources to pursue their innocence through scientific investigation. But organizations like the Innocence Project and the Equal Justice Initiative are working to solve this issue. Twenty-two-year-old African-American father Anthony Wright was convicted in 1993 for rape and murder, and sentenced to life in prison. If he had not secured DNA-testing that exonerated him in 2016, he would still be in jail. Alabama man Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on death row after being convicted of two murders. In 2015, a judge dismissed the charges after forensic scientists tested the evidence and confirmed that the bullets at the crime scene did not match Hinton’s gun." Go to the link below for the other 3 ways that innocent African American end up behind bars according to the author: Law enforcement corruption; Lack of speedy trials; and 'money'. The entire commentary can be found at: PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c  |
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Overburdened defence lawyers and forensic evidence: Two of the five factors pointed out by Jamilah Lemieux on News One which explain why innocent African Americans end up behind bars..."As the IFC/Amazon Studios film Crown Heights garners buzz for it’s painstaking look at the case of an innocent man who spent 21 years in prison, the persistent failures of the United States criminal justice system are again put in the spotlight."..."Sometimes innocent people are kept in jail because of errors with, mishandling of, and complete omissions of forensic evidence. Many of the wrong convicted don’t have the resources to pursue their innocence through scientific investigation. But organizations like the Innocence Project and the Equal Justice Initiative are working to solve this issue. Twenty-two-year-old African-American father Anthony Wright was convicted in 1993 for rape and murder, and sentenced to life in prison. If he had not secured DNA-testing that exonerated him in 2016, he would still be in jail. Alabama man Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on death row after being convicted of two murders. In 2015, a judge dismissed the charges after forensic scientists tested the evidence and confirmed that the bullets at the crime scene did not match Hinton’s gun."
