while undergoing the judicial process, several people are convicted wrongfully, and this has speculated societal obligation in ensuring that the affected are compensated accordingly. For such reasons, several states have adopted, and are implementing the Wrongful Convictions Act. Such is Arizona, that has executed the bill, but has encountered several problems addressing the bill.
Wrongful Convictions Act in Arizona
Arizona State Analysis in Implementing the Wrongful Convictions Act
Hot debates concerning compensating the exonerated date back to 1900s. The movement to compensate the wrongly convicted has never gained momentum until in the recent years. With more victims being released, the topic of compensating those convicted is more relevant than ever. The society is always on the lookout for the convicts, whether rightfully or wrongly convicted, and has the ultimate mandate to allow for compensation assistance. This is achieved by offering monetary compensation depending on the year served, providing financial services to acquire basic needs, legal aid, medical attention and development assistance in rebuilding professional skills. Several statutes concerning the subject have been provided in almost 27 states in America, Arizona being among them.
Arizona is evaluating a bill regarding those who are wrongly convicted. The bill can be cited as the Wrongful Convictions Act. The bill intends to put in place law, which gives money as compensation for people wrongly convicted for a crime, and the money will be apportioned to different government entities. The compensation is deemed to be $1,000 incarceration per day as a result of the wrongful conviction. The money will be paid by the county where arrest occurred and the law enforcement agency who initiated the arrest, each contributing 50%. The bill proposes that money will be paid in a lump sum within thirty days of decision by the court.
The people of Arizona propose the bill because they think that wrongfully convicted people deserve compensation for loss of income, liberty and freedom. They also think that the litigation has harmful results to a person; therefore, the person deserves compensation. The bill aims at protecting innocent people from suffering consequences of a conviction. From another perspective, the bill could have been encouraged by statistics in Maryland, Illinois and Arizona, which revealed after subsequent DNA testing that innocent people were convicted (Tatalvoich and Byron, W, pg. 69). Despite a wrongful conviction of an innocent person, not compensating them can add insult to injury. When the innocent are convicted, they will not have time to prove their innocence, assuming they have investigative and legal resources to prove the innocence.
Passing the bill will require minimum and maximum amount to be put in place depending on different sentences. Like other states, compensation may depend on the nature of conviction and how the convicted person contributed to their own conviction, so the Act has to be clear and unambiguous about such issues. There are restrictions which bar the convicted person from receiving compensation like new conviction of a felony or past felony convictions if a person pled guilty of falsely confessed. Such contributed to their own conviction, and they must show that DNA evidence exonerated them.
Implications of the policy
Wrongful convictions can lead to hate and contempt from convicted innocent persons, towards the people involved in their cases. It leads to feelings of betrayal, paranoia and anger. This can lead to revenge or other vengeful actions for the injustices done to them. Wrongful convicted people have also been seen to experience psychiatric dysfunctions, and long -- term difficulties re-integrating into the society. The convicted people lose income during pleading in their cases, they end up losing their assets, and those employed later get low earnings. The justice system should be a system of high integrity which people can put their faith, to ensure that justice is done to them. If laws to mitigate innocent convictions are not passed, it will lead to injustices; hence develop trust issues with the judicial system. Passing of the wrongful convictions Act, on the other hand, will ensure that justice is served to wrongfully convicted people. It will prevent people from hateful feelings and help to enable a quick healing process and integration into the society (Adrian, 2008).
Compensation will motivate government to protect the innocent because they will know if they convict the wrong person they will be liable for damages. Therefore, they will be more diligent and put more attention to cases. Compensation provides social insurance; policy compensating people wrongly may be socially beneficial but harmful to the criminal justice system. On a moral argument, it is fair to compensate those convicted especially when they had not contributed to their own conviction. Compensation will provide equal treatment for those in a similar situation; putting a definitive value will ensure the exonerated have equally compensation (Stack, 2006).
Alternative solutions
When mistakes involving people convicted of capital crimes that they did not commit are uncovered, debate over federal penalties is renewed. The problem can be solved through facilitating DNA testing on evidence; convicted offenders can request DNA testing on evidence in their related case. There should be facilitation of experienced lawyers in criminal cases especially those involving death penalties, to prevent innocent people from death penalties (Tatalvoich and Byron, 2010). Testing will improve the quality of criminal cases and provide clarity concerning the accuser's guilt.
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