Journal # 2
“Timothy Cole, imprisoned while a 26-year-old student at Texas Tech University, had been failed by the justice system at every turn. But what makes his story particularly gut-wrenching is that he perished in prison even as the real rapist, Jerry Johnson, tried repeatedly to confess to the crime. By the time Johnson's story was heard, Cole had been dead nearly a decade.”
“Timothy Cole, imprisoned while a 26-year-old student at Texas Tech University, had been failed by the justice system at every turn. But what makes his story particularly gut-wrenching is that he perished in prison even as the real rapist, Jerry Johnson, tried repeatedly to confess to the crime. By the time Johnson's story was heard, Cole had been dead nearly a decade.”
This quote
and article is exactly why I picked crime and justice. I do not know someone
personally that has been convicted of a crime but I know how often it happens.
It’s on the news, online and in the papers all the time. I feel sorry for a man
or woman who dies behind bars, especially if they don’t deserve to be there. Watching movies can intrigue you, almost as
if you are living their story, I become very animated. I remember watching the
movie Aladdin; I couldn’t believe
they were going to cut off jasmines’ hand for giving a small child an apple!
Although that wasn’t based in America; I understand that now –lol-.
People can
be sent to jail by mistake in a number of ways, but in this article he was
accused of raping someone he had not raped. Even though the real criminal owned
up to it, the police did not let the other man free of charges. This was in Texas
back in the 60s’; laws were certainly different than now. But Governor, Rick
Perry had let almost three hundred executions take place; “Perry famously said
that he had lost no sleep over the possibility of an innocent man being executed
on his watch”
One woman says “yes, I’m
positive”,( that he’s the man who raped her), later DNA showed differently. “But
researchers are learning just how often eyewitnesses are wrong: Nationwide,
incorrect identification was a factor in the convictions of more than 75
percent of people eventually exonerated by DNA.”
How can you be sure of whom
it was? Naturally, we believe what information our brain is sending us but it’s
not always right, our mind creates things without us knowing. Sometimes we picture
ourselves doing something that hasn’t really happened. Have you ever tried to remember something and
you get glimpses; although, it’s not through your own eyes? This isn’t uncommon
to remember being somewhere and seeing yourself from an outsiders view; this
most likely means it was a false memory. "By the time of trial, almost all
of them were absolutely sure they were identifying the right person." But being
put under the pressure, thinking “There is only ten men in the line up; but
none look exactly as he; which one could it be?” I believe people often make
mistakes.
This was an effective article;
although the beginning was boring and I found myself dozing off and having to
go back and read it for the right information later in the story. All the
boring information should be put at the end where it’s relevant to the reader,
and they understand it clearer.
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