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Wrongful convictions: U.S. police withhold evidence in many cases, study shows

39 Comments
By ROBERTO SCHMIDT

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39 Comments

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In fairness to the police and prosecutors, since half of the cops and prosecutors are liars and scum, that mean the other half are not.

But of this I am certain: the situation can only improve when the good cops stop protecting the crap cops. And DA's stop protecting crap prosecutors.

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In fairness to the police, the article clearly indicates that this is mostly the result of prosecutorial, rather than police, misconduct.

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Agreed Rainy.

Prosecutors are generally all serpents. Anything for a "win" justice be damned.

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Lets post a single study without any counter arguments that buries something like this way down in the story

What exactly is the counter argument that you'd like to see? Wrongful convictions are good? The innocent should be behind bars? What?

And what is the significance of that line being "buried" in the article?

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In the U.K all evidence has to be disclosed to the defense team. Is it not the same in the U.S.A? There should be harsh penalties for non disclosure, that would stop bent police and prosecutors as they faced jail time themselves.

The same rule exists in the US.

Interestingly it does not in Japan. Prosecutors here only have to disclose evidence that they intend to use at trial. Since they obviously have no use for exculpatory evidence at trial, they sometimes don't disclose it to the defence. The defence can file a motion with the judge demanding that the prosecution turn over the evidence, but they have to actually be aware of the fact that it exists to do so. A lot of Japan's wrongful convictions that get overturned usually involve exculpatory evidence that the prosecution didn't turn over.

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You could really go on all day with this "who is unethical" debate but its kind of pointless. You have an adversarial system of justice in which both the prosecutors and defence are duty bound to do what it takes to prove their case, bound only by the ethical guidelines that the Bar Association imposes on lawyers and the rules of criminal procedure. So "ethics" in this context means "following the rules", which isn't the same as "doing what most people would consider morally correct". Prosecutors aggressively go after defendants, some of whom are actually innocent, while defence attorneys rigorously defend their clients, many of whom really do belong in prison.

If you have a problem with the ethics of that, its more a problem with the system itself than any individual operating in it.

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and Donald Trump is personally responsible for every single one of these.

Around 2,500 people have been exonerated of serious crimes after being falsely convicted over the past 30 years in the United States.

And Joe Biden is responsible for none of these, as during his 8 years as VP, this never happened.

Said absolutely NOBODY except you.

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America, beacon of justice and democracy for the world. Yeah, sure!!!

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In fairness to the police and prosecutors, since half of the cops and prosecutors are liars and scum, that mean the other half are not.

But of this I am certain: the situation can only improve when the good cops stop protecting the crap cops. And DA's stop protecting crap prosecutors.

Excellent point.

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In the U.K all evidence has to be disclosed to the defense team. Is it not the same in the U.S.A? There should be harsh penalties for non disclosure, that would stop bent police and prosecutors as they faced jail time themselves.

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Stop stirring the pot

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It’s pitiful

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I worked in Malcolm X's "alma mater" and met a fair number of wrongfully imprisoned inmates of color. No surprise to read about the rampant corruption in America's two tier system of "justice". Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow and today, mass incarceration. All you have to do is join the dots. That's why BLM.

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Perhaps all of those involved in hiding evidence where the conviction is overturned should serve the same amount of time as the innocent party. That should incentivise honesty.

Why does it not surprise me that there is a different setup in Japan. A trial should be upon all the evidence not just what looks good for a conviction.

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In the U.K all evidence has to be disclosed to the defense team. Is it not the same in the U.S.A? 

I think the laws are similar in both countries. But there are various reports in the UK too of evidence being withheld.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5572445/Police-trained-hide-evidence-dont-want-defence-see.html

(Daily Mail link, but it refers to an article from The Times. Unfortunately, The Times' page is not free to view.)

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Just like the vast majority of police officers are honest and good people, so are the vast majority of lawyers.

I agree.

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Those “slimy personal lawyers” get their clients off within the framework of the laws and constitution.

U-huh...please say that to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.

Weird that anyone would denigrate those that ensure the law is applied and the constitution respected.

Unless it’s Tara Reid

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Epstein got the deal he got because he had a good lawyer, which he was constitutionally entitled to.

Yes, As he should and duly noted, but even though they were constitutionally provided, that doesn’t mean that the person they are representing is ethical and the same goes for the prosecutors, both sides have the ability to say no to represent a client.

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they wont disappear, Will be a couple hours of shock that Trump won again and then the media will start running impeachment stories again. Just like in 2016, the first impeachment story was like 21 hours after he was elected.

To be followed by Antifa/BLM riots, then more riots after the police are found innocent about George Floyd, followed by more riots when the police are found innocent about Jacob Blake. then some riots.

Good god, I can't wait until November 4th when these stories suddenly disappear..

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Recusal can only happen for a valid reason. Resignation means being unemployed. Prosecutors are poorly paid, so not all have the options you seem to think they do.

Lawyers are people who have chosen to study law and have passed a bar exam. They learned the exact parameters of the law and how to research so fact patterns are most similar. Without lawyers, the people would be against the state on their own.

I understand all that, but it has nothing to do with ethics and it has nothing to do with defense lawyers or prosecutors and some of them having ethical issues that goes for both sides

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Prosecutors are generally all serpents. Anything for a "win" justice be damned.

Oh, Not just the prosecutors, you also have a lot of slimy personal lawyers that will do anything and everything by any means to get their client off and that happens too much and too often.

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Great Trump of America First is working well even in this Covid-19 cases 1rst ranking, incredible! People revolting of hate, discrimination, bullying, harassment and he is still there, great. (?)

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You seem to be advocating a system in which the accused don’t enjoy the right to counsel.

No, never.

I’m not sure how you square that with your professed love of law and order.

All I am saying is that both sites whether you are a defense attorney or you are a prosecutor both of them are lawyers and such, you do have some shady characters and unethical ones representing either the client or the state.

>

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Prosecutors are assigned cases and their clients are always the state.

It does it mean the people that they’re representing our ethical nor does it mean these lawyers are ethical. They do have the right to turn down a case.

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A prosecutor can recuse themselves or resign,

well, you just make my point for me. But when it comes to ethics, neither side as the upper hand.

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oh ok, so this is just an issue still looking for an owner to blame it on. thats rare these days.

Seemed curious to me that a thirty year study that shows policing in a negative light would come out less than 50 days before an election where one candidate is pro-police and the other isnt.

Seeing as Biden wrote the 1994 crime bill, lets say he owns this for now.

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and Donald Trump is personally responsible for every single one of these.

Around 2,500 people have been exonerated of serious crimes after being falsely convicted over the past 30 years in the United States.

And Joe Biden is responsible for none of these, as during his 8 years as VP, this never happened.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Good god, I can't wait until November 4th when these stories suddenly disappear..

@PSmith: Nobody is forcing you to use JT.

PSmith, Its not just JT - and hes not saying it is.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

JT- you sure know how to get the clicks.

Lets post a single study without any counter arguments that buries something like this way down in the story

African Americans were slightly more likely than whites to be victims of misconduct leading to false convictions.

We get it. You think the United States is the Third Reich. But this is really grabbing at straws

Good god, I can't wait until November 4th when these stories suddenly disappear..

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

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