Corruption within the system is high; it goes from all ends
of the spectrum. Corruption can start within bad policing techniques, which
then throws off the whole judicial process because corruption has already
occurred. Bad policing techniques can mean a few things from planting evidence,
to coercing confessions, or even knowingly going after an innocent person.
Police are one of the first people to interact with someone after a crime has
occurred, putting more emphasis on them not to be corrupt. Not all police
officers’ are bad by any means; however, those that are mess up the legitimacy
of the system and shine an unflattering light on the rest.
The
next level is, lawyer competency and what that actually means can be difficult.
Some defense attorneys are not deemed competent from the way they proceed with
death row inmates. There have been cases where the lawyer doesn’t even talk
with the inmate before representing him/her. Plea agreements have been rejected
without the inmate’s knowledge and some crappy defense work includes the lawyer
taking a nap during a capital trial. I think this is personally the most
unacceptable form of corruption. The inmate has a right to competent counsel and
having someone who is not competent loses them a case that they could have won.
Producing innocent people in prison or even on death row, which could benefit
from another form of sentencing.
The
last is a corrupt court, not necessarily the judge, but jury could play a
larger role; after all they have an inmate’s life in their hands. Jury is
selected through the voir dire process. Questions are asked to all of those
pulled for jury duty and slowly dwindled down through questions to see if they
have any conflicts of interest. Jurors will be asked not to serve if they have
harsh opinions one way or another with the death penalty, the crime, or the
defendant. Sometimes this does not necessarily protect the defendant all the
way. Jury could be selected in opposition to the defendant by the prosecution.
Jurors are also not supposed to know anything about the case at hand (often
does not completely happen). Some things must be excluded from the trial and
the jury should not be aware of those facts. This happened in the West Memphis
Three trial in Jason and Damien’s trial. Jessie MissKelley’s confession could
not be used in the other’s trials, although it ended up being written on a
juror’s notepad. It goes to show that our system does a great deal to try and
discourage corruption but in all honesty it still occurs quite regularly within
courts, corrections, and policing.