Abigail was 18 when she moved off to college, she was so excited to be starting school

and getting out on her own. Abigail was a great student, never went out to parties, all together
she was just the girl next door. She and Penelope, a close friend of hers, were renting a nice
apartment close to campus. They had talked about moving in together since pre-k and their
dreams were finally coming true. Fall break came and the girls went to hang out with some boys
from school at a local spot. As time went on Penelope developed a close friendship with one of

Commented [SS1]: I really like how you gave someone

like I a good understanding on who Abigail is. I liked
how you gave a description and the setting at the same
time. It was a great start off to your story!
-Ryan

the boys, while Abigail wouldve rather forgotten the night all together. Abigail was focused on
school and didnt have time for a relationship. October and November flew by. Abigail had
gotten a job at a local coffee shop, trying to earn money to pay off student loans. When it came
time for winter break, everyone else went home to spend the holidays with family, but she stayed
in town to take more hours and hopefully make some extra change. It was the day before winter
break ended that Penelope came back to her and Abigails apartment only to find her bound to
her bed, vomit on the sides of her cheeks. Penelope checked for a pulse but she confirmed her
fears, Abigail was gone. When the police came Penelope was the first suspect. Abigail had over
dosed on some of Penelopes pain killers she had been prescribed after a back surgery a few
months back. But Penelope kept them locked up and didnt give anyone the combination to her
safe, not even Abigail. She was entirely confused. As the trial came, Penelope was accused of
her friends death due to the fact her finger prints were the only ones found on the medication
bottle, and she was the only one with the combination to her safe. She was devastated, not only
had she lost her best friend, but she was also being accused for her murder. Penelope couldnt
believe it, who in the world couldve done this and framed her? As she thought on it, it finally hit
her. The boys from fall break. Alec, the boy that was hanging out with Abigail, had severely
burned his hands when he was younger and was forced to wear gloves to protect them from any

Commented [SS2]: You could may elaborate more on

this part in assignment 2. So instead of just saying
October and November flew by making it such a short
sentence, maybe you can combine a sentence leading
it into the next part of the story. I would maybe combine
the sentence right after it.
-Ryan

direct and harmful lights. Alec had constantly been bugging Abigail to hang out again since
break, he even quoted the last time he had tried to get her Abigail this is the 27 time Ive
th

asked just one more night This dropped Penelope to her knees, Alec had the gift of being
able to remember everything. He was in the room when Penelope had taken her medicine the
night they all hung out. So what really happened to Abigail? Did Penelope do it?
Guilty or Not Guilty? Did you ever wonder what factors determined the guilty or not
guilty plea in a courtroom? You may say well theres proof isnt there? But have you ever
thought about all the evidence that was obtained and wrongly accused an innocent person of a
crime? Plenty of other times there just isnt enough evidence to convict someone of a crime.
There is a lot misconceptions about the justice system and the process of finding a criminal. Now
I know your first thoughts of the courts and justice system are cut and dry. Most TV shows out
there have given us a stereotypical look into the world of crime fighting. Shows like law and
order or some CSI episodes give us a fictional view into the courtroom, but how is evidence
obtained?
Ive decided to shift my line of inquiry to forensic evidence and its role in determining an
appeal in a trial. Most of my sources speak of the justice system and explain how sometimes not
all evidence is accurate but it is all important. Of course nothing about our government is
foolproof, the justice system and forensic evidence isnt an exemption. I believe that evidence
found can either make or break a case. And some evidence can also accuse an innocent person of
a crime they didnt commit. Like with my story about Abigail and Penelope, all fingers pointed
to Penelope, but she never wouldve done that to her friend. Regardless there was no evidence
pointing to Alec, therefore he walks as a free man and she serves time until technology develops
far enough to prove him guilty.

Commented [SS3]: I really like the fact that you related

these facts back to your attention grabber. This really
helps tie in the introduction as a whole. This paragraph
also leads nicely into the next one. Great work!!
- Jenni

I have always questioned the accuracy of evidence used in the court room. Of course my
curiosity stems from my long term obsession with crime shows non-fictional and fictional. One
thing that stands out to me in both types of shows though, is the small percent of wrong
convictions. I have always wondered how I could change that small percent to no percent at all.

Commented [SS4]: I really liked how you connected

this to your personal interests. As a reader I am able to
engage more with you than the information from other
articles. I would like to see more of these connections
throughout your paper.
-Jenni Tobon

Make sure the people serving the time are 100% the ones who committed the crime.
I know that succeeding at this would take a lot of time and patience. Patience and time
that many law enforcement employees just dont have these days. So what would my solution be
to this ongoing problem? I have more than one. Now of course not all solutions would be
relatively reasonable, some may just be fantasy. But should it really be a fantasy to not want an
innocent person in jail for a crime they truly did not commit.
First I would be sure police with any connections to a crime would not be able to tamper
with any evidence. How would I do this? Background checks, figure out who would be the
BEST to work at a scene rather than just throwing whoever into it. I would also be sure to
exclude hiring people who were biased in any form, race, gender, age, etc. This would be good at

Commented [SS5]: I really like how you below have a

first, second and third. It makes it a lot easier for the
reader to see the order the writer will do everything in. I
also like how in the first part you ask a question and
answer it right after.
-Ryan
Commented [SS6]: How often does this usually
happen? Is there a way you give some examples of
this happening.I am just very curious to hear about this
all happening and I think it would be cool to hear a
story about this happening.
-Ryan

preventing an officer of the law from intentionally accusing the wrong person.
Second I would put more time into the training of the scene investigators. The better the
training, the better the investigator. The better the investigator the better the evidence, and the

Commented [SS7]: How would you improve their

training? I am actually curious about how they are
trained now. Maybe give some examples of each.
-Jenni Tobon

better the evidence the more reliable the conviction. This would mean a higher chance that the
correct person would be locked up for their crime.
Third, there would be multiple interviews conducted for each suspect, at each interview,
there would be someone taking notes and someone conducting the interview. This being so that
the interviewer can focus on the questions rather than what the suspect is answering each time, it

Commented [SS8]: I would like to know a little bit more

about this process. For example, are there any specific
tactics that are used when conducting such interviews?
Why aren't lie detectors always used in these cases? In
what format are these questions asked?
- Jenni

is also to check for consistency between interviews. They say that the less consistent the guiltier,
or at least they know something theyre not sharing.
In Specious Rights: Myth vs. Reality in the American Criminal Justice System, one of my
sources. William R. Reinhardt talks about the differences between our expectations and the truth
about the justice system. He explains his experience with the process of training himself to see
the reality rather than a fantasy. Our first question is what is the fantasy? This would be what we
see on TV, read about in books or just what our minds have trained us to believe. For example
from TV shows we would automatically assume it is very easy to find a single finger print in a
huge room in less than no time. And that one single finger print can be used to convict a person
of an entire crime. The person then goes to trial and of course is found guilty, look at that in 30
minutes to an hour we have solved the murder of Jane Doe. But what is the reality? In reality it
can take months to years, sometimes even decades to find a single suspect. Even when you find a
suspect, you still have to prove them guilty. This means we must find out standing without a
doubt evidence that this is the person who committed a crime. Even at this stage we sometimes
can still accuse the wrong person. There is also always the possibilities of corrupt evidence, jury
or investigators. And in this type of situation reality seems to mesh with fantasy. In the real
world it takes a lot more than just a single finger print on a window in a room where a victim
was found to convict a person of a crime.
For my resources I have divided them into three sections the first four talk about the court
systems. Throughout these four sources, we learn about the policies in court systems and how
they have remained since they were put in place. Confused? I was too, until they later mentioned
the ever changing politics involved in the courts. In 1992 Tony Blair pushes for Labour Partys
Policy to neutralize Politics in the justice system before Clinton takes office. Blair and

accomplice John Howard were faced with the challenge of proving they were determined to be
hard-hitting on misconduct. People deciding the sentences of criminals would respond by more
imprisonment, more without bail convictions, reduction in the number of people receiving
community sentencing, and increasing the jail time sentenced. This of course didnt last long.
And before 1994, the act was terminated. Moving forward in time there have been more recent
advancements. There have been studies that have shown approximately 10% of Americans in
Prison are innocent. That is 240,000 people who have been convicted of a crime they did not
commit. And again we ponder the importance of evidence. (Sampson, 2006; Kaushanksy, 2012;
Reinhardt, 2010; Benforado, 2015)
My second set of resources, I researched forensic evidence. Did you know that not all the
convictions based on DNA evidence are 100% reliable? That means at least .01% of DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid) evidence that has been found and used in trials has been defective. This
defective DNA evidence could have been the final piece of a long confusing puzzle that
convicted the wrong person of a crime. As of 2006 there was a total of 4,215,361 people were on
probation, 766,010 were in jail, 1,492,973 were in prison, and 799,058 were on parole. That is a
total of 7,181,500 people under correctional supervision. Did you know crimes could also be
committed on the internet? Well what if I told you evidence could be found from a computer?
This being said, think of your cell phone. Everywhere you go, your phone can be tracked. This is
possible regardless if you have your location services or GPS (Global Positioning System) turned
on. How? When you use your cell phone, there are transmissions sent between cell towers and
police and law enforcement officers can use this information to determine your whereabouts at
any given time. (Kaste, 2015; Casey, 2011; Moody, 2015)

Finally, my last two sources presented evidence about criminal behavior. This means the
analytical aspect of crime solving. What is that? That is the interrogation part. This is when law
enforcement officers and police put their experience to the test. They take crimes apart piece by
piece and analyze the scene to try and determine what type of person would commit such an act.
There are many different ways to criminally analyze. For instance, you can directly study a
suspect themselves. See if they show any signs of lying or deceit when being interviewed. Does
this person dress, act, or carry themselves a certain way. What type of neighborhood do they live
in? What type of childhood did they have? Are they having marital issues? Do they have motive
to commit a crime? The questions are endless. That being said, there is also the other perspective
of analysis which is when you analyze a crime scene to see what type of person would commit
this crime. In the instance that it is a murder, what did the victim look like? How was this person
killed? Who was this person? Does this crime compare to others? Is there a pattern? In the event
that there is a pattern we can then develop a criminal profile. This is just an outline, to shape the
publics, and even law enforcements views on the criminal. Sort of a refining process. If a serial
killer is murdering blonde haired blue eyed 25-30 year old woman, woman who just got
divorces. Odds are it is going to be someone who just experienced a divorce or it will be
someone who experienced a divorce with someone who was at that age with the same features.
That being said it is very possible for the killer to be a man 25-30 recently divorced. All and all
criminal behavior analysis is very important. (Bayer, Hjalmarsson and Pozen, 2009; Spring,
2015)
My conclusion is that there is a lot that goes into the conviction of a criminal. This being
said no process is fool proof. Even if you have a hair, a finger print and a drop of blood from
Peggy Sue, that does not mean that she is your suspect who broke into Bobbys home. Not all

evidence is 100% so neither are all convictions. Our court system is not perfect and it will take
research to develop a system that isnt as flawed. But with time, patience and willingness to grow
one day we will get there and maybe our fantasies on finding a criminal in 30-60 minutes will
become a reality.

1-4 Court Systems

5-7 Forensic Evidence

8-9 Criminal

Behavior
1)

Sampson, Adam. "If not prison, then what?" Renewal 14.3 (2006): 44+. Literature

Resource Center. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

2) Kaushansky, Maria. "The International Criminal Court's Outreach Programme: Translating
the Narrative of the Court." Order No. MR90048 York University (Canada), 2012. Ann Arbor:
ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
3)

Reinhardt, William R. "Specious Rights: Myth Vs. Reality in the American Criminal

Justice System." Order No. 3402083 Fielding Graduate University, 2010. Ann Arbor: ProQuest.
Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
4)

Benforado, Adam. The New Science Behind Our Unfair Criminal Justice System.

NPR, 6 July 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

5)

Kaste, Martin. Great Pause Among Prosecutors As DNA Proves Fallible. NPR, 9 Oct.

2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

6)

Casey, E. (2011). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime: Forensic Science,Computers,

and the Internet. Waltham, MA: Elsevier Inc.

7)

Moody, K. J., Grant, P. M., & Iutcheon, I. D. (2015). Nuclear Forensic Analysis, Second

Edition. Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis Group.

Commented [SS9]: You did a great job wrapping up

your story. You restated the thesis which is very
important. I also really like how you included what you
would like to happen in the future. I really enjoyed the
paper and you did great job on keeping me engaged
while I read your paper.
-Ryan
Commented [SS10]: I noticed not all of your citations
are in the same format. Some of the dates are in
different places. I used Owl Purdue to help me check
whether or not I was citing my sources correctly, I hope
it will also help you.
- Jenni

8)

Patrick Bayer, Randi Hjalmarsson and David Pozen The Quarterly Journal of Economics

Vol. 124, No. 1 (Feb., 2009), pp. 105-14

9)

Spring, S. (10-10-15). Assignment One. Retrieved from

http://sspring6.wix.com/sunshine#!--it-feels-like-home-to-me/crrl