Wrongful Convictions, Article Review Example

According to Mock 2017, New Orleans Leads the U.S. in Wrongful Convictions. He reveals that even if Louisiana keeps on sanctioning different prison suites, incarceration rates will remain high if district attorneys and police officers are adamant about change. The bill passed by Louisiana is purposed to overthrow the state as the enabler of imprisonment, which will help the state from incarcerating people unlawfully. Other mitigations authorized are the minimization and eradication of mandatory minimum sentencing, making prices reasonable for low-income offenders, among others. To accomplish the adoption of the above mitigation, the state ought to start by reforming the criminal justice system starting with District Attorneys and police officers.  District attorneys have been identified to be the key enablers of unnecessary jail terms. Unfortunately, African Americans do bear a greater consequence of these unlawful actions where in approximately 1900 exoneration cases evaluated between 1989 to 2016, the blacks were 12 more likely to be falsely convicted of specific crimes like drug dealing than the whites. This is facilitated by the inequitable drug laws used against blacks than whites. The package of prison bills passed in Louisiana mirrors a promising future for defenders. However, the state needs to transform their officials to ensure that the restructurings benefit people from all races and classes.

In my opinion, we are not doing enough to eliminate wrongful convictions. I believe there is a need for collaboration between the government, judiciary, community, and law enforcers to collaborate in the fight against wrongful convictions. A good way to start would be to enlighten jurors on identifying between reliable and unreliable witness testimony. Through this, jurors can make accurate verdicts about a case. Besides, there is a need to pass prison reform bills that focus on reforming the district attorneys and law enforcers who are wrongfully accusing innocent individuals. I believe there should be stern measures for biased jurors and law enforcers who knowingly and purposely take part in wrongful convictions.