Impact of Social Status, Race, and Background on Wrongful Convictions

This report, prepared for ENG122, investigates the significant impact of social status, race, and background on wrongful convictions within the United States' justice system. It begins by posing the research question of how these factors contribute to miscarriages of justice and the exoneration of innocent individuals. The introduction highlights the prevalence of wrongful convictions and the role of social factors. The body paragraphs delve into the influence of social status, discussing how financial disparities affect legal outcomes, bail, and access to quality legal representation. The report then examines the role of race, noting the disproportionately high exoneration rates among African Americans and the evidence of racial bias. The impact of a defendant's background, including prior criminal records, on jury perceptions and judgments is also considered. The report presents a counterargument advocating for fair trials for all defendants regardless of their social circumstances, emphasizing the need for reforms in the justice system to address biases and inequalities. The conclusion reiterates the importance of addressing these factors to ensure a just and equitable legal system.

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Impact of Social Status/Race/Background in Wrongful Convictions: Outline
Otto Villafane
ENG122: English Composition II
Professor Louise Gerdes
April 11, 2020

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Impact of Social Status/Race/Background in Wrongful Convictions: Outline
Research Question: What is the impact of social status, race and background in wrongful
convictions in the United States?
I. Introduction:
Wrongful justice depicts the situation where justice system fails to function as per the
norms and convicts a person who is not responsible for the specific crime or do not legally
deserve the period of sentencing. Countries like United States attempts at overturning a
wrongful conviction but the ideal case is different from the actual scenario as there are
numerous cases, which are not yet overturned from over a decade or even until the execution
of an innocent person. Throughout a long period, the country, the United States have been
witnessing an enormous rate of exonerations because of the wrongful convictions of which
social status, race and background are considered to be the contributing factors in those
wrongful conviction cases.
II. Body Paragraph: Social Status
In the context of the wrongful conviction, it is true that various socially constructed
factors, which are not considered legally and under the purview of law and norms, are taken into
account for decision and period of trial. There are numerous guaranteed and safeguarded norms
with the intent of ‘equal behind bars’, but are not practiced. “There can be no equal justice
where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has”. The extension of
the norms and processes of equal criminal justice not satisfy the people with low or medium
social status, or with near-poor and average earners. The problems in equity due to social status
can be witnessed right before the facilitation of the trial and continues till the appeal. The run-up

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
of suspects is generally facilitated in the poor neighborhood due to the association of ‘crime’
with ‘lack of money’ (Ashford.edu, 2019). There can be various linked factors, which may
impact the condition, such as lack of significant witnesses to prove innocence and even lack of
knowledge or money understanding the rights through an attorney. People with more money
tend to appoint the biggest lawyer or is at least aware of the basic when it comes to arresting
without proof. Money does play a role with respect to period of sentence as rich population
under trial can appoint a much better lawyer by investing money in comparison to the poor.
Moreover, due to the concept of bail over cash, the situation is worsening as poor or lower
middle class people cannot afford to buy their own bail, resulting in lower chances of getting
smaller sentences. Money has a major influence over various areas in life, including the court
trials and for getting bail (Ashford.edu, 2019). Rich people do not only have money but also
have the opportunity to learn about the laws and norms as well as involves the support of
greatest team of lawyers advocating or even bending the laws for ‘getting away with’ or
‘getting’ more things (Nytimes.com, 2020).
One of the cases representing this scenario can be the case of drunken-driving sweep
near Northeast Wisconsin a SUV was chased but could not find the driver. The car belonged to a
person called David, who was not accountable for the crime as his ex-girlfriend was apparently
driving the car. David was arrested and was asked for 5,000 dollars for bail, which he could not
afford. He served 84 days in jail and then was received bail with a public defender
(Nytimes.com, 2020). Another is a case of Richard Stanford, 63-years old veteran with only 32
cents in account where the bail fee was 2,600 dollars, for which he had to serve undue
punishment in jail for over three weeks.

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
III. Body Paragraph: Race
Race is another evident factor contributing to the increasing rate of wrongful conviction.
During the year 2016, in the totality of 1900 defendants (approximately) defendants were
declared guilty and were convicted of various crimes but later they were exonerated because
they were found innocent. In that population where the decision was converted, around 47
percent of the people were African American, which represents three time the rate of their
population (Howard-Waddingham, 2018). One of the causes for the high number of exoneration
amongst African American population can be understood by the fact that most of them were
convicted for sexually assaulting or killing white women or people, which is a sheer evidence of
racism and even unconscious bias (Gross, 2017). Moreover, black exonerates convicted for
sexual assault spent more time than the white counterparts. Even in case of murders, half of the
defendants exonerates are African Americans (Earl Smith & Angela, 2011).
There are various cases, which can demonstrate the biasness and explicit racism from the
stage of arrest. During the year 1991, an African American, Marcus Lyons was released after
serving a sentence, which was convicted for rape. Marcus tried everything to demonstrate his
innocence even after the release by putting on the Navy uniform and even nailing a cross in the
road. He was being called as seeking attention by one of the policemen. In the year 2007, Lyons
was exonerated because of a DNA testing, which could have cleared him in 1988 (Earl Smith &
Angela, 2011). Another case was of Jeffrey Walker, who arrested an African American, Mia
Whittaker against drug charges. She was declared innocent and evidences were found fabricated
by the officer, Jeffrey Walker.

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
IV. Body paragraph: Background
Yes, along with other biases, whether conscious or unconscious, background contributes
majorly on the rate and extent of wrongful convictions. Criminal history or background of the
defendant creates a preconception about the person even without any reliable evidence in the
current trial. The defendants and/or witnesses directly talks or presents their views directly to the
jury in various criminal cases. In these cases, jury creates an image of the person by assessing
the past records and backgrounds beforehand. The contributing factor of background in jury’s
decision and perception results in not understanding, valuing the views or even evident in many
cases due to the perception of the defendant being guilty and/or liar.
Background of Michael Coscia for the trial of Federal District Court, Chicago
demonstrates the ‘spoofing’ of prosecution. Mr. Coscia was also judged based on his current
status as well as his past records, which does not involved any criminal activities, thereby
leading to an unfair jury decision. Another case is of Mr. Allen convicted for trade crime, was
judged based on his past records, even though when his own statement clearly demonstrated
gaps in the fair decision (Scholarship.law.cornell.edu, 2020). Defendants without the presence
of prior criminal records or backgrounds are most likely communicating the truth, whereas, the
defendant with prior background is lying in any situation.
V. Body paragraph: COUNTER ARGUMENT
Every defendant, whether guilty or innocent, whether rich or poor, whether high social
status or low, whether of minority group or majority and whether with or without prior record or
background should be receive or be undergone through a fair and lawful trial without the
involvement of money or unfair preconceptions. The justice system of United States needs to

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
address various factors responsible for wrongful convictions, which also involves policemen’s
actions. Policemen are often found for tweaking the evidence and dominate the pledge of
innocence by practicing explicit racism and even the action of protecting powerful people with
money (Duncan, 2019). Moreover, defenders, who cannot afford money, are left with the public
defenders without the presence of experienced and skilled attorneys, which is a unfair practice
of prioritizing money and status over fair judgment and right (Duncan, 2019).
VI. Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded by the paper that, the research on the wrongful
convictions needs to be taken into account by the government and law norms and policies as the
innocent defenders are not only wrongfully convicted but also experiences the failure of the
whole system by serving undue punishment. Few people argue about U.S. justice system, being
effective and few opposes the views by presenting the evidence of biases. Nevertheless, there is
still hope for the nation to improve and reframe the criminal justice system, which does not
consider consciously or unconsciously the contributing factors of wrongful convictions mainly,
social status, race and background.
References
Ashford.edu (2019, January 20). Poor Stay Jailed While Rich Go Free; Momentum Building to
End Cash Bail; Criminal Justice | Reconsidering Pretrial Policies. Wisconsin State

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Journal, C1. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy-
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Duncan, C. (2019, May 16). Justifying Justice: Six Factors of Wrongful Convictions and Their
Solutions. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=themis
Earl Smith, & Angela J. Hattery. (2011). Race, Wrongful Conviction & Exoneration. Journal of
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direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.43525410&site=eds-live&scope=site
Gross, S. R. (2017, March 7). Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States. Retrieved
April 12, 2020, from https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
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Howard-Waddingham, W. (2018). Race, wrongful convictions, and Texas: An analysis of the
impact of juror and defendant ethnicity on wrongful convictions in Texas. The Young
Researcher, 1, 98. Retrieved April 11, 2020, from
http://www.theyoungresearcher.com/papers/howard-waddingham.pdf

Running head: WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
Nytimes.com (2020). Equal Justice for the Poor, Too; Far too often, money—or the lack of it—
can be the deciding factor in the courtroom, says Justice Goldberg, who calls for a
program to insure justice for all Americans. [Online] Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/15/archives/equal-justice-for-the-poor-too-far-too-
often-moneyor-the-lack-of.html
Scholarship.law.cornell.edu (2020). [Online] Retrieved from
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article=1082&context=lsrp_papers