Blind Injustice (book)

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Blind Injustice:A Former Prosecutor Exposes the Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions
Blind Injustice (book).jpg
First edition
AuthorMark Godsey
LanguageEnglish
GenreNonfiction
Published2017 (University of California Press)
ISBN 9780520287952

Blind Injustice is a nonfiction book by lawyer Mark Godsey. Godsey is the co-founder of the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP), which seeks to exonerate and overturn the convictions of people who have been wrongfully convicted. Drawing on Godsey's experience as a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York prior to his work at OIP, the book examines how the culture of the justice system is complicit in wrongful convictions. It was published in 2017 by the University of California Press. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

The book is part-memoir in which Godsey describes his personal journey from being a "hard-nosed prosecutor" to the co-founder of the Ohio Innocence Project. [2] : 599  Godsey began teaching law in 2001, and was assigned to serve as the faculty supervisor for the Kentucky Innocence Project. He did not believe that innocent people were in prison, and thought that students were naive to try to prove the innocence of those who had been convicted. [2] : 599 

The book's six main chapters each focus on one of the systematic flaws Godsey sees: "blind denial", "blind ambition", "blind bias", "blind memory", "blind intuition", and "blind tunnel vision". [2] [3] [4] The two most frequent contributors to wrongful conviction are false eyewitness accounts and problems with forensic science. [3] The book illustrates how these problems have led to wrongful convictions in cases taken up the by Ohio Innocence Project. [5]

Godsey writes that judges, prosecutors, and police contribute to wrongful convictions by taking "unreasonable and intellectually dishonest positions" [4] and that they operate "under a bureaucratic fog of denial". [3] He sees the system as routinely dehumanizing suspects in the eyes of prosecutors. [3]

Blind Denial

In the chapter on "blind denial", Godsey addresses prosecutors' and law enforcement's psychological denial of their fallibility and the possibility that they could have made a mistake. He gives the example of Clarence Elkins, who was convicted on rape, assault, and murder charges in 1998. He was initially convicted on the basis of "looking like" the attacker, despite an alibi and an absence of physical evidence. When later DNA testing showed that he was not the source of the skin cells and semen found at the crime scene, prosecutors put forth improbable theories to explain why Elkins must still be guilty. Godsey uses this example to illustrate the judicial system's resistance to new evidence and the possibility of having been wrong. [2] : 600 

Blind Ambition

The chapter "blind ambition" addresses the political factors affecting judges and prosecutor. Godsey writes that elected judges know that a "tough on crime" approach wins votes, leading some judges to lean on a record of toughness rather than fairness. [3] Here, Godsey cites the case of Chris Bennett, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and sought to overturn the conviction based on evidence that he was a passenger rather than the driver of the car involved in an accident. In the cases of both Clarence Elkins and Chris Bennett, local prosecutors and judges denied the validity of new evidence, and the convictions were over turned at the state level. Godsey sees these local officials' unwillingness to overturn a conviction as a symptom of the political system that incentivizes conviction over exoneration. [2] : 602–603 

Blind Bias

The bias Godsey refers to in the "Blind Bias" chapter is confirmation bias, the tendency of people to favor evidence that supports what they already believe. [2] : 603  In this chapter, he notes that prosecutors often tell forensic specialists what the prosecutors want to find or believe to be correct; that foreknowledge undercuts the scientific method and primes the forensic experts to come to particular conclusions. [2] : 605 

Blind Memory

The "blind memory" chapter addresses the fallibility of human memory and memory's susceptibility to the power of suggestion. Citing memory expert Elizabeth Loftus, he notes that human memory is subject to constant subconscious editing that changes the details of what is remembered, while leaving the thinker unaware of how the memory has changed over time. [2] : 610  He gives the example of John Jerome White, who was convicted of rape, and who served twenty-two years before being exonerated by DNA evidence. White did not match the description of the perpetrator that the victim gave to police, but his face was in the first batch of photos shown to the victim, and she selected his as a possible culprit. When the victim was then shown a lineup of possible suspects, she again selected White as the perpetrator. DNA evidence later showed that the probable actual perpetrator was in the lineup as well, but was not selected. Godsey hypothesizes that when the victim was initially shown an array of photographs and selected White, White replaced the actual attacker in her memory. [2] : 610  Similarly, Godsey notes a study showing that police interrogation techniques can cause a person to form new artificial memories. [2] : 611  Godsey contends that human memory is highly fallible, but is treated as evidence all the same.

Blind Intuition

In the "blind intuition" chapter, Godsey discusses human's belief in their ability to correctly identify deceptive behavior. He cites the case of David Ayers, who spent twelve years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned. When he sued the detectives whose testimony had led to his wrongful conviction, one claimed to have never arrested an innocent person in her career, saying that she was "a human lie detector, with no rate of error." [2] : 612  Ayers won his suit.

Blind Tunnel Vision

In the chapter on "blind tunnel vision", Godsey describes a prosecutorial penchant for becoming attached to one interpretation of events and being unwilling to consider alternatives. He returns to the case of Clarence Elkins and the prosecutor's adherence to a version of events not supported by a preponderance of evidence. He notes that while Elkins spent seven and half years in jail for crimes he did not commit, the actual perpetrator remained free for several years and committed further crimes before being caught. Thus, the prosecutor's attachment to an incorrect version of events led to both Elkins's unjust imprisonment and to several additional crimes. [2] : 613–614 

Conclusion

In a final chapter entitled "Seeing and Accepting Human Limitations", Godsey argues that knowing the human propensities outlined in the preceding chapters, the justice system needs to be reformed to limit the impact of these failings. He writes that greater care in handling witnesses and more comprehensive use of video recording to capture interrogations from beginning to end can help fight the "massive disaster" of wrongful convictions. [6]

Reception

Blind Injustice was published in 2017 and received several positive reviews, largely in politically progressive media outlets. Rutgers University law professor George C. Thomas III wrote an extensive review for the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law; he wrote "Godsey’s book is splendid. Everyone who cares the least bit about justice must read it." [2] : 600  The Progressive listed it as one of "Our favorite books of 2017". [4] A review in Salon described the book as "compelling" and called Godsey "one of the heroes we need now more than ever" for his work exonerating the wrongfully imprisoned. [5]

The book served as the basis for the 2019 opera of the same title, which was developed as a collaboration between the Ohio Innocence Project, the Young Professionals Choral Collective in Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati Opera. [7]

Related Research Articles

Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 1% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent. The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who gained national attention in the mid-1990s as part of the "Dream Team" of lawyers who formed part of the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miscarriage of justice</span> Conviction of a person for a crime that they did not commit

A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent people have sometimes ended up in prison for years before their conviction has eventually been overturned. They may be exonerated if new evidence comes to light or it is determined that the police or prosecutor committed some kind of misconduct at the original trial. In some jurisdictions this leads to the payment of compensation.

<i>The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town</i> 2006 true crime book by John Grisham

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town is a 2006 true crime book by John Grisham, his only nonfiction title as of 2020. The book tells the story of Ronald 'Ron' Keith Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma, a former minor league baseball player who was wrongly convicted in 1988 of the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada and was sentenced to death. After serving 11 years on death row, he was exonerated by DNA evidence and other material introduced by the Innocence Project and was released in 1999.

Exoneration occurs when the conviction for a crime is reversed, either through demonstration of innocence, a flaw in the conviction, or otherwise. Attempts to exonerate individuals are particularly controversial in death penalty cases, especially where new evidence is put forth after the execution has taken place. The transitive verb, "to exonerate" can also mean to informally absolve one from blame.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in the United States.

Ray Towler is an American musician and artist (painter). On September 18, 1981, when he was 24, Towler was falsely convicted of rape, kidnapping and felonious assault in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The charges were vacated on May 5, 2010 after Towler had spent over 29 years of his life in prison for a crime he did not commit.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Morton (criminal justice)</span> American wrongly convicted of murder

Michael Morton is an American who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 in a Williamson County, Texas court of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent nearly 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011, and another man, Mark Alan Norwood, was convicted of the murder in 2013. The prosecutor in the case, Ken Anderson, was convicted of contempt of court for withholding evidence after the judge had ordered its release to the defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Elkins</span> American wrongfully convicted for murder and rape

Clarence Arnold Elkins Sr. is an American man who was wrongfully convicted of the 1998 rape and murder of his mother-in-law, Judith Johnson, and the rape and assault of his wife's niece, Brooke Sutton. He was convicted solely on the basis of the testimony of his wife's six-year-old niece who testified that Elkins was the perpetrator.

The innocent prisoner's dilemma, or parole deal, is a detrimental effect of a legal system in which admission of guilt can result in reduced sentences or early parole. When an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime, legal systems which need the individual to admit guilt — as, for example, a prerequisite step leading to parole — punish an innocent person for their integrity, and reward a person lacking in integrity. There have been cases where innocent prisoners were given the choice between freedom, in exchange for claiming guilt, and remaining imprisoned and telling the truth. Individuals have died in prison rather than admit to crimes that they did not commit.

The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the University of Michigan Law School, Michigan State University College of Law and the University of California Irvine Newkirk Center for Science and Society. The Registry was co-founded in 2012 with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law to provide detailed information about known exonerations in the United States since 1989. As of February 6, 2020, the Registry has 2,551 known exonerations in the United States since 1989. The National Registry does not include more than 1,800 defendants cleared in 15 large-scale police scandals that came to light between 1989 and March 7, 2017, in which officers systematically framed innocent defendants.

Thomas Haynesworth is a resident of Richmond, Virginia, who served 27 years in state prison as a result of four wrongful convictions for crimes for which he was exonerated in 2011.

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Glenn Ford was convicted of murder in 1984 and released from Angola Prison in March 2014 after a full exoneration. Ford was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the longest serving death row inmate in the United States to be fully exonerated before his death. He was denied compensation by the state of Louisiana for his wrongful conviction.

Blind Injustice is an opera based on the stories of six people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes in Ohio, and who eventually had their convictions overturned through the work of the Ohio Innocence Project. The opera was commissioned by the Cincinnati Opera; it was written by librettist David Cote and composer Scott Davenport Richards. The libretto was based in part on the book Blind Injustice by Ohio Innocence Project co-founder Mark Godsey, and on interviews with those whose stories are portrayed. The opera opened at Cincinnati Opera on July 22, 2019.

Kevin Bernard Strickland is an African-American man who was wrongfully convicted by an all-white jury in 1979 of killing three people in Kansas City, Missouri. No physical evidence linked him to the scene of the crime and the only alleged witness later recanted her testimony that Strickland was involved, stating that she was coerced by police. Strickland was given a life sentence. In 2021, he garnered national attention after former prosecutors in his case said that he was innocent and called for his release.

References

  1. ↑ Godsey, Mark (10 October 2017). Blind injustice : a former prosecutor exposes the psychology and politics of wrongful convictions. Oakland, California. ISBN   9780520287952. OCLC   981118101.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Thomas, George C. III (2018). "Blinded by the Light: A Review of Mark Godsey's Blind Injustice". Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. 15: 597–617.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lockup Nation". The Economist. December 16, 2017. pp. 77–78. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  4. 1 2 3 Lueders, Bill (December 2017 – January 2018). "Our favorite books of 2017". Progressive. Vol. 81, no. 8. pp. 59–65.
  5. 1 2 Cesca, Bob (2017-09-24). "Mark Godsey is an American superhero: He gets innocent people out of prison". Salon. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  6. ↑ Greenhouse, Linda (2018-06-28). "Wrongfully Convicted". New York Review of Books: 50–51.
  7. ↑ Kramer, Elizabeth (2019-07-23). "'Blind Injustice' Opera Sets Out To Open Eyes About Wrongful Conviction Rates". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
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