‘Conviction’ Review: Exposing the Twisted Criminal Justice System
Many people believe that little or no corruption exists within our nation’s criminal justice systems, and they are absolutely wrong. There are occasional trustworthy practices, but the majority of the system is corrupt. Instead of actually caring about the people in their communities and wanting to see those communities grow and be safe, the system only cares about personal gain and service to the powerful and wealthy. Folks are ranked based on what neighborhood they live in and are treated differently based on who they are. Law enforcement does not always keep their personal life out of their work duties and let it disrupt their responsibilities too often. Cops are constantly pushing young, marginalized folks around in their neighborhoods, which inevitably leads to extreme frustration. As those folks grow up, they develop a wrong, negative understanding of how they are supposed to act in a community. Most of those same folks end up committing violence or turning to illegal activities. Others are intimidated into submission by the police and have control of their lives taken over. However, most of them end up in the same place — the wrong side of the law. Each time they are punished, the more likely they will become worse and fall out of society.
To demonstrate the severity of this issue, a podcast, Gimlet, followed the story of a New York Times reporter through the streets. The reporter, Saki Knafo, published a large report in the New York Times Magazine about the corruption of the criminal justice system in the 42nd precinct — The Bronx. Gimlet interviewed nearly everyone involved the the report, and released a seven-episode series titled “Conviction.” This real-life saga dives deep into the flaws of the criminal justice system in America.
The series starts out by presenting a case about Pedro Hernandez, a young man in the Bronx, who was wrongfully arrested for a crime he did not commit. The crime was a shooting and he was not involved at all. However, because of the past relations between David Terrell, an NYPD detective, and Hernandez’s family, he was framed as a gang member and was sent to Rikers Island. Manny Gomez, the lead investigator, was hired by the Hernandezes to prove to the court that Pedro was actually innocent. Gomez immediately gathered eyewitness reports and evidence to prove that Hernandez was not guilty. The evidence showed that Terrell had threatened one of the eyewitnesses to falsely identify Hernandez as the perpetrator of the shooting. However, the prosecutors changed their tactics and claimed the gun came from Hernandez, which could still put him in jail. As Gomez tried to discredit them, the prosecutors kept delaying the trial.
In the Bronx, so many people are arrested that the court does not have enough time for each trial. So, the prosecutors delay and pressure the defendant to take a plea deal. Most convictions are results of a plea deal. In this case, the prosecutors delayed the trial for a year, and then offered to set Hernandez free if he took a plea deal. The catch, however, was that he would be at a much higher risk of being arrested again and convicted in the future by NYPD if he had taken the plea deal. So, Gomez convinced him to not take the deal and continue with the investigation.
Gomez uncovered the account from a victim of a different shooting, who was shot and survived. The victim, William Stevens, said that the NYPD tried to get him to pin the shooting on Hernandez, but he refused. So, he was tortured and beaten by cops in the streets until he gave in and signed the charge against Hernandez. Stevens said he wasn’t at the shooting that landed Hernandez in Rikers. Talks and conflicts between Terrell and Hernandez’s defense deepened, until the case took off in the media. It gained so much attention that human rights organizations posted a bail for Hernandez, allowing him to return home. The day of trial arrived with an army of activists supporting Hernandez and Gomez preparing to take down the prosecutors. Just as Gomez and Hernandez were arriving at the courthouse, the prosecutors had announced they were dropping the charges due to an uncooperative witness. Hernandez was free! The day ended with a big celebration of Hernandez’s freedom. However, it was still a massive loss.
Hernandez was wrongfully imprisoned for over a year without actually having an opportunity to prove his innocence. Hernandez and countless more should not have gone to Rikers for over a year. One can only imagine what an experience like that does to someone. In they end, they are damaged from the broken system. Since the courthouse was overflowing with arrests, the trial moved at a crawl’s pace. The reason why the courthouse overflows is due to the fact that young, marginalized folks in urban communities are much too commonly arrested and labeled as criminals. In other less-urban communities, young folks are generally treated with much more respect and are given far more opportunities to correct their wrongdoings.
Readdressing the initial problem of differences between geographical areas and demographics, it is easy to find the results of the criminal justice system. Whatever the circumstance is, the criminal justice system drives the future of each and every citizen. If folks are given opportunities and respect, they will typically grow up to be respected by society and have a successful life. If they are deprived of opportunities and are treated with disrespect, then those folks will most likely grow up internalizing their negative images and live a life of crime.
Lastly, as a long-term effect, this vicious criminal justice system feeds back into itself over and over again. It is a true representation of nature versus nurture, where nurture is the obvious champion. Those who go to prison once will most likely return to prison again. If the system worked with the people, instead of against them, then those who committed wrongdoing would learn from their mistakes and would be given equal opportunity to become a better citizen. Unfortunately, that almost never happens in today’s society. So, until we change the system, it is an endless cycle trapping innocent folks, producing criminals.
(Report from my Sociology class in the Fall of 2019)
