Evidence Based Social Policy Advocacy - Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling is a practice of systemic racism promulgated by many politicans like New York City mayor Michael Bloomburg.

Racial profiling has contributed to hyperincareration with young black men to be incarcerated at rates 10 times the rate of whites.

From Social Work, Vol.63, Number 1, January, 2018, p.37

Racial profiling is an act of injustice that uses race as the foundation for shaping perceptions and behaviors associated with defining who is and which groups are designated as “criminal” (Moore, 2015). This definitional system can disadvantage individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, and has been pervasively applied to stigmatize, stereotype, and target young black men (Weatherspoon, 2004). According to U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics, in 2014 black male adolescents ages 18 to 19 “were more than 10 times likely to be in state or federal prison than whites” (Carson, 2015, p. 15). For all age groups, black male individuals are arrested and have the highest rate of imprisonment in state and federal facilities. This rate is 3.8 to 10.5 times more than the rate for white men and 1.4 to 3.1 times more than the rate for Hispanic men (Carson, 2015). Many contend that a primary factor explaining this precipitous incarceration rate, known as hyperincarceration, is the practice of racial profiling (Moore, 2015).

Editor's note:
Bolding has been added

Action

1. To what extent is racial profiling used by police in the service area of your congregation?
2. To what extent are politicans in your congregation's service area campaigning for election using "get tough on crime" and other types of "dog whistles" to target certain groups in your community simply based on demographic characteristics?
3. Has your congregation taken any steps to mitigate or eliminate racial profiling by institutions within your congregation's service area?
4. Has you congregation taken any steps to educate congregation members about the racial profilinig policies in your service area?

Evidence Based Social Policy Advocacy - Criminal Justice, wrongful convictions

Of the 367 wrongful convictions exonerated with DNA evidence by the Innocence Project since 1989:

130 were wrongfully convicted of murder with 40 cases, 31% involving eyewitness misidentifications, and 81 cases, 62%, involving false confessions.

The major reasons for wrongful convictions of the 367 exonerated cases by DNA evidence since 1989 are:

1.  69% eyewitness misidentification
2. 44% misapplication of forensic science
3. 28% false confessions
4. 17% inaccurate incentivized informant testimony

Action:

1. How many wrongful convictions have occured in the jurisdiction of your congregation in the last ten years?
2. Are members of your congregation monitoring the performance of police and prosecutors in your service area?
3. What actions has your congregation taken to improve the just performance of the police and prosecutors in your service area in the last ten years and what are you planning in the coming ten years?
4. Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. How specifically is your congregation and its members doing in implementing this principle in its congregational, familial, and personal lives? Is it a time for an assessment?

Evidence Based Social Policy Advocacy - Criminal Justice, wrongful convictions.

Is the criminal justice system in the U.S. racist?

Of the 367 exonerees of the Innocence Project since 1989 cleared with DNA evidence:

225, 61% were African American

110, 30% were Caucasian

28, 8% were Latinx

2, 1% were Asian American

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What racial group in the United States is most heavily impacted by wrongful convictions?
Why would this be?

Actions:

1. Find out how many wrongful convictions have occured in your church's jurisdiction in the last 10 years.
2. Identify the contributing factors to these wrongful convictions.
3. Identify remedies for the criminal justice practices in both policing and prosecution to minimize, if not eliminate wrongful convictions in your jurisdiction.

Evidence based social policy advocacy, criminal justice, wrongful conviction exonerations

In 2019, the Innocence Project has helped exonerate 7 people with a combined total of 176 years of incarceration.

UU A Way Of Life supports the work of the Innocence Project as part of its evidence based social policy advocacy work.

Click on image to enlarge.

Evidence Based Social Policy Advocacy, Criminal Justice, Wrongful Convictions, Will Florida execute an innocent man based on informant testimony?

Editor's note:

I am a Roman Catholic Unitarian Univeralist. The Roman Catholic church has come against the death penalty as has the Unitarian Univeralist Association. Where does your congregation stand? Where do you stand? Where do the UU churches in Florida Stand?

As we have seen in our study of the 367 exonerations from DNA evidence obtained by the Innocence Project since 1989, 17% of wrongful convictions were due to incentivized informant testimony. Could this be such a case where there will be a miscarriage of justice?

The state of Florida has an unusually high number of exonerations. This raises questions about the criminal justice system in Florida.

Evidenced Based Social Policy Advocacy - Criminal Justice, Use of Incentivized Informants

The fourth largest factor in wrongful convictions in the 367 people exonerated by DNA evidence by the Innocence project was use of incentivized informants with 17% of the cases.

 


Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. When people have conflicts of interest, it is human nature that justice, equity, and compassion often are set aside in the interests of self-preservation and self-aggrandizement. It takes a very mature person to rise above these perverse, narcissistic incentives.

What makes things worse for justice, equity, and compassion to be honored and implemented is when the incentives of a system are perverted to encourage such conflicts of interest, or they are overlooked in the service of an unjust or inequitable goal being achieved.

Unitarian Universalists, as they enact the second principle, should be alert to the perverse incentives in systems to favor some participants over others. When good people do bad things, it is usually because the system not only allows it, but incentivizes it in some way. No better and damaging examples can be given than those that occur in the criminal justice system.

What is the policy of the law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in your jurisdiction when it comes to the use of informants and incentivized witnesses?

For more click here.

Evidence based social policy advocacy, Wrongful convictions, Tunnel vision in criminal investigations violate the fourth principle of Unitarian Universalists.

How does tunnel vision lead to wrongful convictions?

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and abhor tunnel vision and confirmation bias.

Does this mean that Unitarian Universalists would be better detectives and prosecutors? How can UU congregations advocate for fair and open minded policing and prosecutorial conduct in the jurisdications in which they reside? Should Unitarian Univeralists advocate for police and district attorney accountability boards to review their work and conduct?

Evidence Based Social Policy Advocacy, Criminal Justice, Wrongful convictions based on misapplication of forensic evidence

 The second largest factor in wrongful convictions in the 367 people exonerated by DNA evidence by the Innocence project was misapplication of forensic science with 45% of the cases, that’s almost half.

 24% of all wrongful convictions in the U.S. are based on faulty forensic science.

Not only do the “experts” get the evidence wrong, but the law poses tremendous barriers to getting the faulty evidence claims reviewed.

 Examples of faulty forensic science involves incorrect hair analysis, faulty arson evidence, wrong comparative lead bullet analysis, etc.

 Americans have become enamored with TV crime shows which show convictions based on forensic evidence which gives the viewers the satisfaction of the experts and detectives outsmarting the offenders, but what about when the experts are wrong and the “evidence” is not valid and reliable?

 As people of faith, Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. UUs can be helpful to wrongfully accused and convicted suspects when overzealous prosecutors misuse evidence in a fraudulent fashion to advocate on the suspect’s behalf to have the evidence accurately and impartially reviewed.

For more click here.


Editor's note:

I support the Innocence project with what little money I have. I encourage you to do the same. Click here.

Evidence based social policy advocacy - False confessions

The third largest factor in wrongful convictions in the 367 people exonerated by DNA evidence by the Innocence project was false confessions with  with 28% of the cases, that’s over ¼ or 1:4.

Of these false confessions

49% were by people 21 years old or younger at the time of arrest.
33% were under 18.
10% of false confessions were by people with mental health or mental capacity issues.

Plea bargaining and threats of draconian sentences with prolonged interrogation techniques often result in a false confession just to end the intimidation and harassment.

Have you ever been arrested, taken in to custody, and subjected to intimidation and coercive techniques? Has anyone you love and care about?

To what extent does this occur more often to poor people who don’t have access to a lawyer?

For more click here.

What can you do about it?

Check with your local police department to find out what kind of interrogation policies and procedures they use in interviewing suspects and witnesses.

Check with your district attorney's office to find out what kind of confessions they use use in their prosecutions.

Check with your local bar association, defense attornies section, to find out what their experience has been with false confessions.

Encourage everyone you know not to speak with police without an attorney to represent you.

Unitarian Univeralists convenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. Does your congregation have a social justice committee to monitor criminal justice practices in your congregation's geographical area? Does your congregation have any policy and procedures for how to assist people who come into contact with the criminal justice system?

Evidence based social policy advocacy - Criminal justice - eyewitness misidentification

Of the 367 wrongful convictions that were exonerated since 1989 by the Innocence Project, 71% involved eyewitenss misidentification.

Supposed human memory every often is distorted and biased due to multiple factors.

Here's an interesting video dealing with the topic.


 What can be done to mitigate the possibility of witness misidentification? There are many things. To learn about them, click here.

Here's part of what is stated on the Innocence project web site about police and prosecutorial reforms when it comes to using eyewitness testimony in prosecutions:

How to Improve the Accuracy of Eyewitness Identifications

The Innocence Project endorses a range of procedural reforms to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identification. These reforms have been recognized by police, prosecutorial and judicial experience, as well as national justice organizations, including the National Institute of Justice and the American Bar Association. The benefits of these reforms are corroborated by over 30 years of peer-reviewed comprehensive research.

1. The “Double-blind” Procedure/Use of a Blind Administrator: A “double-blind” lineup is one in which neither the administrator nor the eyewitness knows who the suspect is. This prevents the administrator of the lineup from providing inadvertent or intentional verbal or nonverbal cues to influence the eyewitness to pick the suspect.

2. Instructions: “Instructions” are a series of statements issued by the lineup administrator to the eyewitness that deter the eyewitness from feeling compelled to make a selection. They also prevent the eyewitness from looking to the lineup administrator for feedback during the identification procedure. One of the recommended instructions includes the directive that the suspect may or may not be present in the lineup.

3. Composing the Lineup: Suspect photographs should be selected that do not bring unreasonable attention to him. Non-suspect photographs and/or live lineup members (fillers) should be selected so that the suspect does not stand out from among the other fillers. Law enforcement should select fillers using a blended approach that considers the fillers’ resemblance to the description provided by the eyewitness and their resemblance to the police suspect. (More detailed recommendations can be provided upon request by the Innocence Project.)

4. Confidence Statements: Immediately following the lineup procedure, the eyewitness should provide a statement, in his own words, that articulates the level of confidence he or she has in the identification made.

5. The Lineup Procedure Should Be Documented: Ideally, the lineup procedure should be electronically recorded. If this is impracticable, an audio or written record should be made.

Which states have implemented these reforms?

24 states have implemented the core reforms promoted by the Innocence Project either through legislation, court action, or substantial voluntary compliance. These states are:

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

How is your state doing in instituting these reforms?

Would you and/or a group of social advocacy minded parishoners in you congregation want to study how the eyewitness testimony is obtained and used in your jurisdiction, and advocate for recommended reforms is necessary?

Evidence Based Social Policy - Criminal Justice

Of the 367 people exonerated by the Innocence Project with DNA evidence since 1989 the demographics are interesting.

Number of 367 exonerees who are Africian American? = 225 (61%)
Number of 367 exonerees who are Latinx? = 28 (8%)
Number of 367 exonerees who are white? = 110 (30%)

Are African Americans wrongfully convicted at twice the rate as whites = Yes

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. What can we do to rectify wrongful convictions of everyone but especially of African Americans who are over represented in the exonerees based on their race. For more click here.

In our next article we will explore some of the reasons for wrongful convictions in our U.S. criminal justice system.

Evidence Based Social Policy Advocary - Criminal Justice

Today , UU A Way Of Life, is beginning a new feature, tagged, "Evidence based social policy."

Unitarian Universalists have a long history of advocating for social justice. This advocacy activity is generated from its second principle, the affirmation and promotion of justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

The first topic chosen is criminal justice.

Here at UU A Way Of Life, we are long time supporters of The Innocence Project which has a history since the late 80s of advocating for prisoners who have been falsely accused and punished for crimes they did not commit.

At UU A Way Of Life we encourage people to support the work of the Innocence Project and to work for changes in State laws that contribute to wrongful convictions.

Further, there can be no more important office that oversees the operation of the criminal justice system than the office of your County and State district attorney.

District attorneys are the key policy making decision makers who decide who gets prosectuted and who doesn't, and how prosecutions are managed.

Most citizens are only vaguely aware of how their District Attorney's office is run. As Unitarian Univeralists we can be more curious about the operation of our District Attorney's offices and how the policies of our local District Attorney's impact how cases are charged and prosecutions are conducted.

Number of DNA exonerations to date (12/07/19) since 1989 achieved by The Innocence Project, 21 from death row, = 367

In how many states = 37

With what average number of years served in prison = 14

Average age at wrongful conviction = 26

Average age at exoneration = 43

Number of people out of the 367 who confessed to crimes they did not committ = 41

To be continued

Principle two - affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

There are plenty of examples of evil in America. Injustice is rampant in our hyper-capitalist society. The way we treat the poor, the sick, the young, the old, people of minority races, offenders, is legendary. While all of these are important, perhaps one of the most egregious examples of evil is wrongful convictions and the infliction of unjust criminal justice penalties on the wrongfully proclaimed guilty.

The second principle of Untarian Universalism is that we covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. This affirmation and promotion is badly needed in our contemporary society when poor people who can't mount a robust defense against false accusations are oppressed and subjugated by dysfunctional prosecutors and judges who see the administration of criminal justice as a game played in a competitive playing field based on adversarial rules of play which often are misused, abused, and corrupt.

All of this is why I support the Innocence Project which is an organization which tries to correct and rectify the injustice of our criminal justice system.

The Innocence Project has been in existence for 26 years and during that time they have accomplished many significant and wonderful things. For example, to date, 367 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 21 who served time on death row.

For more click here.