Every day hundreds of people are put away and treated unfairly because of errors in their conviction, and if there’s an error in their conviction there’s an error in our system. Being wrongfully convicted is not something you would assume would be such a huge problem until you reach the underlying problem, false reports. False reports have become more common and the way we are going about them are only making the numbers of wrongful convictions sky rocket. 

– When reports are made is there any system set up in which they double check the reports & follow up before taking action? 

– Why are reports held to such an extent that anybody can be convicted on that alone?

– Why are people not arrested and convicted for false reports? 

I chose my topic because I myself am a victim of wrongful conviction. Growing up I never had a relationship with my mother, fast forwarding eighteen years later I would have never thought I would be sitting in a cell for fourteen hours for something I did not do. Being wrongfully convicted did open my eyes to the system we have today; Not once during my wrongful conviction was I asked my side of the story, not once was I asked if I was hurt or if I was in pain, not once was I asked the background of the situation & not once was I allowed to speak to the judge. The whole time I was there all I wanted was for someone to listen, to listen to my side of the story, to my perspective & not just see me as a criminal. The questions above are definitely worth researching because they will help us figure out how many reports are false out of the amount made, which can be used to help us stop wrongful convictions altogether and improve our system. 

Out of the three questions I have came up with I will be focusing on the question “Why are reports held to such an extent in which anybody can be convicted on that alone?”. I chose this question to focus on in my essay because it shines light on how things are handled when reported. I feel as though reports are held way too high in the criminal justice system and aren’t checked enough; If you think about it, a report is just what somebody saw or assumed they saw, anybody can write false information on a report, send it in and have anybody arrested at any moment, no proof or evidence needed.

In order to answer my inquiry question about reports being held to such an extent in the criminal justice system I would have to find out how many reports are made everyday in a year, along with that I would have to research how many of those reports come up false. I would have to research this because if not as many false reports are being made compared to truthful reports, then that would be one reason as to why they are held to such an extent. Finding out how many reports are made everyday in a year as stated would be the most important and first information I would have to investigate before continuing to research other aspects of my question. So far I am not anticipating any stumbling blocks in my research because it is a question I have had for a while and I am determined to have an answer.