Emma Hastings

Period 4
11/22/20
Annotated Bibliography

My research question for my civic engagement project is “should someone be punished

for wrongful convictions?” I’m going to find different opinions on, if anyone, should be held

accountable for these wrongful convictions. Another question that kind of goes along with my

overall question is “what should the wrongful convicts (if anything) be owed?” Below are some

of the sources I have found that might be able to help me write about these questions.

Causes of Wrongful Convictions. (2020). Retrieved November 22, 2020, from

https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/innocenceclinic/Pages/wrongfulconvictions.aspx

This source is on the smaller side. It talks about some of the causes of wrongful

convictions. The causes in this article include eyewitness accounts, junk science, false

confessions, government misconduct, snitches, and bad lawyering. In addition to this article

there is a link called “additional resources” and has a whole list of other things I could go check

out that may help me with my article. A quote from the article states, “Our work has revealed

particular circumstances far too often seen in cases of wrongful convictions. These cases show

us how the criminal justice system is in need of much repair...In each case we have worked on,

we have uncovered overlapping causes of wrongful convictions...These factors are not the only

causes of wrongful convictions. Each case is unique and many include a combination of issues.”

This just says during their research, they found this list of causes to be the most common.

This source doesn’t specifically choose a side for my overall research question, but it

has linked additional resources I can look at. This source fits in though, because it’s talking

about reasons why people could be wrongfully convicted, so I think it’s a good starting point. I
think logos and ethos would be mostly in this article, not so much pathos. The audience would

just be people, maybe part of the criminal justice system, trying to figure out a way to help these

convictions to be less frequent. I think the source is credible to the audience. The article is

published from Michigan Law, University of Michigan, which obviously is a law school in

Michigan, which seems pretty credible to me.

Sacramento, & Bee, O. (2016, September 28). Police and prosecutors must be held

accountable for wrongful convictions. Retrieved November 22, 2020, from

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article104728216.html

This source has Obie Anthony talking about his experience with being wrongfully

convicted. At the age of 19, he was conviced for a murder which he did not commit, and spent

17 years behind bars. A quote from the article states, “Despite my unwavering declarations of

innocence, I was convicted of capital murder in Los Angeles Superior Court and sentenced to

life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 50 years. Somehow I was able to summon

enough internal strength to believe that one day my innocence would be discovered and I would

be set free.” Even though he had to suffer in jail for 17 years, he wanted to believe evidence

would come out proving his innocence.

This particular source is on the “someone needs to be punished” side of my question.

Obie Anthony says in the article, “In the past three years, I have spent a considerable amount of

time working toward change in our criminal justice system.” He is working day by day, to make

changes in the criminal justice system to do something about wrongful convictions. In the article

it also states, “AB 1909 would create a standalone statute making it clear that it is a felony for

any prosecutor to intentionally and in bad faith withhold evidence of innocence. Although

technically illegal to withhold this type of evidence, state law is not explicit about it. There is a
felony statute for peace officers who conceal evidence. There is also a law if someone

introduces false evidence, but the law does not specifically state it is a crime to withhold proof

that a person is innocent.” He wants it to be stated clearly that by trying to put an innocent

person into prison, comes with consequences.

This article has elements of pathos and logos throughout. I think the audience for this

article would be people maybe not so sure what should happen to the prosecutors of the

wrongful conviction. I think this article is credible to its audience because it is by someone who

actually went through being wrongfully convicted and spent more than enough time behind

prison bars for an innocent man.

Maule, Alicia. “8 Phenomenal Portraits and Stories of Survivors of Wrongful

Conviction.” Innocence Project, 31 Mar. 2017, https://innocenceproject.org/2017-

innocence-network-conference/

This source shows us portraits of those who were wrongfully convicted and tell their

story. There are links following each story to read up on even more about the story, so that’s

great too. In the article, Maule writes, “One hundred and sixty-six people were exonerated in

2016, breaking a record.” It’s crazy that so many people were pronounced guilty when they

really were innocent, leaving the real guilty party still to roam free.

This source represents the viewpoints of a few people who have been put behind bars

when they were, in fact, innocent. This source shows a lot of pathos, letting the audience feel all

different kinds of emotions while reading these people’s stories. I think there are some traces of

ethos as well because the stories and photos come from the actual victims. The audience
seems to be anyone unknowing of the people who get put behind while they committed no

crime. I think the source is credible to this specific audience and other audiences as well.

“Predicting and Preventing Wrongful Convictions.” National Institute of Justice,

nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/predicting-and-preventing-wrongful-convictions.

This article from The National Institute of Justice is short but good. There is a much

longer version of this article going into more detail, so I will skim through that and see what I can

pull out of there as well. In the article, it states, “The researchers did not study the factors that

lead to the factually innocent people entering the criminal justice system in the first place. They

focused instead on why some innocent people are convicted while others are released.” I think

this is a great thing that they chose to focus on and to study for their research.

This source represents the viewpoint of how we can predict and prevent wrongful

convictions from happening in the future. This source fits into my research question pretty well.

Mostly ethos is used in this article. I think the source is credible here because it can be found on

the National Institute of Justice official website and that seems pretty credible to me. I think the

audience for this specific source is people who work in or with the criminal justice system. They

can read this and be better informed how to prevent or predict these future happenings.

Help us put an end to wrongful convictions! (2020, December 02). Retrieved

December 11, 2020, from https://innocenceproject.org/

This is a website I found while researching my question called The Innocence Project..

There isn’t much to summarize, but a quote from their website says, “The Innocence Project,
founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, exonerates the

wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future

injustice.” Basically, the goal of their project is to free the people who are not guilty and remain

incarcerated and bring change to the criminal justice system that had them convicted wrongfully

in the first place.

The viewpoint of this source very strongly represents getting justice for the victims of

wrongful imprisonment. You can read about different cases, help support them by getting

involved, and more. This source thinks there should be a way to serve justice for these victims.

Ethos is used here because they have stories from actual people who went through jail time

while innocent. Pathos is also used by tuning in to people’s emotions by sharing personal

stories of victims. I think the audience of this website would be anyone wanting a change in our

criminal justice system and people who have been affected by wrongful convictions, either

personally or they know someone who has. I believe this source is credible to its audience.

Annie Flanagan, Matthew Shaer. “After 39 Years of Wrongful Imprisonment, Ricky

Jackson Is Finally Free.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Jan. 2017,

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/years-wrongful-imprisonment-ricky-jackson-finally-

free-180961434/.

In this article, a man named Rickard Jackson tells about his life after getting out of prison

after being wrongfully convicted and behind bars for almost 40 years. This is the longest prison

term for an exonerated person in American history. In the article it says, “ ‘I intend to live well,’

Jackson continues, pouring himself a glass of pomegranate juice. ‘But it has nothing to do with
whether I’m here in this nice house, or whether I’m homeless. It has to do with attitude. I’ve

been given an opportunity, you understand? And I’m not going to waste it by holding grudges.’' I

think it’s interesting how he has this perspective on life considering what he went through.

This source comes from the viewpoint of an exonere who was wrongfully imprisoned.

This article definitely uses a lot of pathos playing into people’s emotions with Richard’s story.I

think the audience is anyone curious on the effects of wrongful convictions, or even people

working in the criminal justice system, so they can realize what is happening to these people

and try to fix things. I do think this source is credible to the audience.

Wrongful Convictions - Wrongfully Convicted. (2016, December 19). Retrieved

January 13, 2021, from https://loevy.com/police-misconduct/wrongful-convictions/

This source is here to lend a helping hand out to people who have been wrongfully

convicted and need help with getting a lawyer. The opening sentence in this source says, “Time

spent in prison is something that you can never get back, but a dedicated civil rights lawyer can

help you pursue justice.” They mention a list of successful cases they’ve had in the past. They

basically claim to be the “best in the business”.

This source represents the viewpoint of getting people justice after they have been

wrongfully imprisoned, which is great. A lot of ethos is used in this source by mentioning why

they are credible and why people should come to them for help when in need. The audience is

anyone looking for help after getting out of prison on a wrongful charge. This source does seem

very credible to its audience.

In conclusion, these sources did help me with my civic engagement project because

they made me see things from different points of view. From my research, I found the criminal
justice system is in now way perfect and in need of some repair. I think there should be

consequences for people that tamper with evidence and make false statements and

confessions knowing they are false at the expense of the innocent person. I also believe that it

is important to spread awareness about this specific issue because it’s really not as uncommon

as some people might think it is.