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Frank Davis

Prof. Schindler

English 1201-01

15 December 2019

Literature Review on Research Question

Why should Prosecutors get charged for convicting innocent people? Throughout

generations, prosecutors have knowingly convicted people that never committed the crimes that

they were charged with. It has happened so often that it has become very common in today’s

society. Prosecutors have made it a goal to do whatever it takes. They are quick to believe the

witness before the defendant. Some of the biggest convictions come from someone that a

different ethnic background than the defendant.

It seems like prosecutors are about getting a conviction no matter the circumstances. The

prosecutor’s role is to seek justice while defense attorney’s role is to prevent, by all lawful and

ethical means, the whole truth from coming out. Some prosecutors overzealously seek

convictions rather than seeking justice. They admit that winning is significant to them. “The real

problem with prosecutors deliberately punishing innocent people almost always arises after the

guilty verdict.” The prosecutor will hide the proof that the defendant was innocent after the

verdict pronounces a defendant guilty. There are a lot of good prosecutors out there who want to

sin and take a loss at the same time. They are willing to do it at any cost. They do so by

committing misconduct to win. While misconduct goes unpunished, winning gets rewarded.

Prosecutors who have seen their careers advance have committed misconduct. Prosecutors often

convict anyway because they do not want to get caught up in the scorekeeping, conviction-
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seeking mentality. Some innocent defendants are convicted due to statements from witnesses.

“Cases involving mistaken eyewitness identification are perhaps the most dramatic examples of

the impact of a prosecutor’s violation of Brady on the conviction of an innocent person.” There

is a possibility a mistake was made in some evidence that was gathered during a statement that

was made by a witness. “Some witnesses are indispensable to secure convictions of guilty

persons, such as eyewitnesses, children, cooperating witnesses, and scientific experts.

When you have a different ethnic background than the prosecutor or the judge, it is most

likely going to be used against you. “Many of the consequences of how race affects the larger

criminal justice system can be seen in innocence-related efforts. Many clients who have been

exonerated through DNA testing had their mugshot photos entered into a photo array lineup

culminating in a misidentification. One example was Rickie Johnson of Louisiana had a mugshot

on file because of a misdemeanor traffic violation. His mugshot was identified by the victim, and

he was later erroneously convicted of aggravated rape. Most people of color have a similar story

or know someone who does. “After more than a decade covering these issues, it’s pretty clear to

me that the evidence of racial bias in our criminal-justice system isn’t just convincing – it’s

overwhelming.”

When prosecutors convict all these innocent people, they are either promoted head of

criminal or retired with a career change. The end up living a peaceful life like they never did any

wrong when investigating crimes that were put on innocent human beings. Evidence tampering

happens too often. Some prosecutors are known to hide evidence that is effective. That is how

most of their cases are being won. Some evidence would be pulled from an old case that was

already dismissed.
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When it comes to witnesses, prosecutors will purposely get them to say things that they

have no proof of. Witnesses are sometimes persuaded to give false statements so that prosecutors

are able to beat their case. Sometimes a witness will have a motive to lie. That is what brings a

lot of false allegations when they are called to testify against a defendant that is most likely

innocent. There is a big possibility that a witness just wants to ruin a person’s life. Your ethnic

background can either be your best friend or worst enemy in a courtroom. African Americans are

known to receive the heavier prison sentence regardless if they are guilty or not. To society, they

see them as a threat.

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Work Cited

Balko, Radley “There’s overwhelming evidence that the criminal-justice system is racist. Here’s

the proof.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/18/theres-overwhelming-evidence-

that-the-criminal-justice-system-is-racist-heres-the-proof/

Ferguson-Gilbert, Catherine “It is Not Whether You Win or Lose, It is How You Play the Game:

Is the Win-Loss Scorekeeping Mentality Doing Justice for Prosecutors?”

https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1176&context=cwlr

Gershman, Bennett L. “The Prosecutor’s Contribution to Wrongful Convictions”

http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1960&context=lawfaculty

Grimsley, Edwin “What Wrongful Convictions Teach Us About Racial Inequality”

https://www.innocenceproject.org/what-wrongful-convictions-teach-us-about-racial-inequality/

Ledio “Criminal Justice: How do prosecutors rationalize punishing innocent people?”

https://www.quora.com/Criminal-Justice-How-do-prosecutors-rationalize-punishing-innocent-

people