Impact of Diversity on the Criminal Justice System

Reviewing the case of State v. Hunt, we learn that the blood type did not match Mr. Hunt’s blood type. Today it is important to examine the crime scene thoroughly because there is a lot of valuable information in a single droplet of blood. Blood samples help not only the victim but also the possible accused attacker. (Pokupcic, 2017) In 1987 DNA evidence was first used in the United States for investigations. Thus, making the fact that the assailant’s DNA not was not a match an irrelevant fact at the time. (EasyDNA, 2021) While Mr. Hunt had proof in October of 1994 the jury still found him guilty even though the semen found and tested was not his. They stated that they never found semen and it was not in the criminal report. The judge ruled that when they “found” semen and it was tested that it was not enough evidence to prove his innocence. After nineteen long years Mr. Hunt was released because his attorney asked that Hunt’s DNA be run through the database which concluded to find evidence that the murderer was already in prison for another murder and Mr. Hunt was released and awarded almost two million dollars as compensation for the years they robbed him of. (Michigan Law, 2019) I feel that these advancements in DNA testing have made it so that it is easier to make sure that this type of mistake (committing an innocent individual) does not happen again.

However, this is not the case. Christopher Tapp (like many others) is a prime example of his DNA not being at the scene of the crime and still being wrongly incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Tapp has been in jail since 1998. He is serving a twenty-five year to life sentence for a crime he did not commit. He had been charged with the murder of Angie Dodge (a 19-year-old woman). (Starr, 2016)

Murders or rape that is intraracial are where a victim and offender are both the same race while murders or rape that are interracial are different races from each other. The FBI’s Expanded Homicide data from 2018 tells us that 80.7 percent of white individuals are murdered by other white individuals while only 15.5 percent of white individuals being murdered by black individuals. (FBI, 2019) Still to this day innocent black individuals are convicted of being wrongfully committing a murder than there are white people. Approximately thirty one percent of blacks convicted of murder are wrongfully convicted of murdering a white individual. I also found out that it takes a black individual who is innocent longer to be exonerated. Innocent individuals who are black spend about forty five percent longer in prison when innocent than white individuals. This is usually after at least sixteen years into their death row sentence before being released. (Shelby, 2021)

Based on my research above I believe that intraracial crimes are more of a problem than interracial crimes. I also believe that there is a lot of bigotry when it comes to convicting black individuals because not only are they wrongfully convicted more than white individuals, but they also receive longer sentences and takes the court system longer to right their (the court’s) wrongs. As a white woman I do not have to worry if I am pulled over because I am not considered “a threat” to an officer. Unfortunately, society hasn’t advanced and continues to target those of color.

In 1984 (and still today) there was a lot of bigotry towards black individuals. There are countless stories that support this. For example, Mr. Hunt’s jury include a Ku Klux Klan member and a cocaine-addicted prostitute (who was often in and out of a mental institution) and the judge found them more credible than Mr. Hunt and his lawyer. (Rappaport, 2008) In 1991 about 240 of the 960 LAPD officers that were surveyed admitted that they held a racial bias towards anyone who was a minority and more than a quarter of the 960 officers agreed that they excessive force was due to bigotry towards minorities. (Sagepub, 2012)

In scenario one we have a Caucasian male perpetrator John Scott who has shot a black woman named Tiffany Cross within her home. Mr. Scott is on probationary leave and can resume his daily life until his trial can be held. Since we are in the midst of a pandemic Mr. Scott must wait to have his trial resume and motions heard in December of 2021 and then appear in front of a jury in January of 2022. It is unknown as of yet if Mr. Scott has a history of violence towards others however his body cam shows him killing Ms. Cross.

Whereas in scenario two we have Anthony Quinton, black male who has spent over forty years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Quinton has been convicted of one murder where the second woman involved said that Mr. Quiton was the murderer. Emily Dorman claims that Mr. Quiton was the murderer because she recognized his clothing and could not properly identify him before because she was under the influence.

A case that matches closely to the first scenario is Officer Aaron Dean’s case. Officer Dean had shot Atatiana Jefferson through a window while conducting a wellness check. Due to COVID his case has been paused. Mr. Dean is being charged with murder of the death of Ms. Jefferson that happened October of 2019. Ms. Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew when she noticed someone in the backyard, so she grabbed her gun to look out her window. Officer Dean shot Jefferson through the window and was dead on the scene. Officer Dean did not announce he was a police officer and Dean did not give any statements to the internal affairs division in the police department or to any investigators. Officer Dean quit his job so that he could not be fired and is on a $200,000 bond and has been since October of 2019. (Haney, 2021)

A case that matches scenario two is about Kevin Strickland who has spent forty-three years in prison. Mr. Strickland has been convicted of one count of capital murder and two accounts of second-degree murder. There were four individuals who were shot in April of 1978. Cynthis Douglas was the only surviving victim and testified that it was Mr. Strickland based on his hair matching the shooter’s hair. Ms. Douglas said that she could not identify her before because she was under the influence of marijuana and cognac. Ms. Douglas later admitted that she was wrong, and that Mr. Strickland was not the murderer, however, he remained in prison. (Ebrahlmjl, 2021)

Between these two cases we see that the justice system is biased against minorities. Officer Dean should have been arrested since there is unmistakable evidence that he did shoot Ms. Jefferson and refuses to give a testimony as to why he did not let her know that he was an officer or why he shot her. Whereas the case with Mr. Strickland the witness admits that she was wrong, and the prosecution believes that he is innocent but the judge refuses to hear about his case again. Had this been Officer Dean he would be out on probation and if Officer Dean was innocent the judge would have motioned for his release.

We live in a world where it is okay to wrongfully convict a minority for years (in Mr. Strickland’s case 43 years) but have an issue with convicting a Caucasian officer who murdered a black woman for no reason at all. The two officers did not follow their law enforcement code of ethics. They are meant to safeguard the lives of others and protect the innocent against deception; however, they did not do so by murdering innocent black women. (IACP, 2021)

As for the other case and scenario these men were considered guilty regardless of evidence. In the scenario and case neither woman seen the man’s face however the jury convicted them regardless the lack of evidence against them. This robbed them of a fair trial.

References

EasyDNA. (2021). DNA profiling and the different uses of this technology.

https://easydna.com.au/knowledgebase/history-testing/

Ebrahlmjl, Allsha. (2021, November 11). A man has spent 43 years in prison for a triple murder. He says he’s innocent and prosecutors agree.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/11/us/kevin-strickland-triple-murder-missouri-wrongful-conviction-trnd/index.html

FBI. (2019). 2018 crime int the United States.

Michigan Law University. (2019, July 8). Darryl Hunt.

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3314

Haney, Addle. (2021, November 16). Trial for former officer charged with killing Atatiana Jefferson gets new date.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/aaron-dean-trial-atatiana-jefferson-killing/287-7c08231b-b2ab-4a26-b61b-5c015ec5bf31

IACP. (2021). Law enforcement code of ethics.

https://www.theiacp.org/resources/law-enforcement-code-of-ethics

Pokupcic, K. (2017, May 7). Blood as an important tool in criminal investigation.

https://juniperpublishers.com/jfsci/pdf/JFSCI.MS.ID.555608.pdf

Rappaport, J. (2008, August 28). Free at last, wrongly jailed man fights for others inside.

https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2008/08/29/free-last-wrongly-jailed-man-fights-others-inside

Sagepub. (2012, March 2). Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.

https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/46946_CH_3.pdf

Selby, Daniele. (2021, February 2). 8 facts you should know about racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

https://innocenceproject.org/facts-racial-discrimination-justice-system-wrongful-conviction-black-history-month/

Starr, Douglas. (2016, March 7). Forensics gone wrong: when DNA snares the innocent.

https://www.science.org/content/article/forensics-gone-wrong-when-dna-snares-innocent