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Essay Answer Crime Scene to Courtroom - WJEC Applied Criminology Year Two
These are what I used in the controlled assessment and got myself an A! You can take these into the exam
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AC3.2Miscarriages of justice Miscarriages occur more commonly than most people believe and I have studied this through
a number of different cases. In the case of Derek Bentley, he was accused of murdering two police officers with his
friend and as a result the 19 year old was hanged after 10 years in prison. The Guildford four spent 14 years in prison
before their convictions for two IRA bomb explosions in Guildford were quashed by the court of appeal in
1989.Additionally the Birmingham six were wrongly convicted of the murder of 21 people are bombs exploded in
Birmingham, and they spent 17 years in prison. With the case of Stefan Kiszko he was convicted of the sexual murder
of a young girl and spent 16 years in prison before he was released. Stephen Downing spent 27 years in prison, the
longest sentence given in Britain, for a murder he confessed to despite many police failures. Finally, in the case of
Sean Hodgson, he was convicted of murder after confessing to the crime but was a pathological liar and therefore
should not have been imprisoned. From analysing and examining cases I can draw the conclusion that miscarriages
of justice do happen. Police misconduct is one reason for this, whereas in the case of Derek Bentley they
misinterpreted a key phrase “let him have it” where Bentley was telling his friend Craig to give up the gun. The price
twisted this, saying Bentley was encouraging Craig to shoot the police officers and therefore he was guilty of the
murders. Additionally a crucial police witness lied under oath. Police misconduct was also present in the Guildford
four whereby the suspects suffered intense coercion by the police such as intimidation, torture and threats to their
families. This was because the police were under pressure to convict and due to the brutal nature of their
interrogation methods, the four confessed to murder. Similarly, in the case of the Birmingham six, police carried out
specific stop and search by a specialist branch of the police. Due to this ,the six were assaulted by the police and
deprived of food and sleep whilst in custody. The six were threatened and beaten like the Guildford four whilst being
interrogated for 12 hours without a break, meaning they are likely to have also suffered from exhaustion. In the
Stefan Kiszko case the police also failed during interrogations by not allowing a solicitor to be present during the
intense 2 days of questioning, which resulted in Stefan confessing to the crime. This supports my conclusion that
police misconduct does happen and as a result miscarriages of justices do occur within our criminal justice system,
showing that the system it ,at times, unjust. Another conclusion that I can draw is that miscarriages of justice often
occur because the mental health of suspects is not considered. For example, in the case of Derek Bentley, Bentley
had the mental age of an 11 year old, with one psychiatrist saying he was not fit to stand trial as he was illiterate and
borderline retarded. Similarly, in the case of Stephen downing he had the mental age of an 11 year old as well as
severe learning disabilities meaning he would have no idea what was going on during his questioning without his
solicitor present. In addition to these, Sean Hodgson confessed to the murder of a woman despite being a
pathological liar and this was not considered in court.Th9s supports my conclusion that police misconduct can also
extend to not considering the mental well0being and capacity of their suspects and as a result can lead to
miscarriages of justice. This demonstrates how the criminal justice system is not always fair. I can also draw the
conclusions that miscarriages of justice happen largely due to evidence, such as in the case of the Guildford four
where they admitted their guilt but then later retracted their statements, telling the court they only confessed due
to the torture. It was also later revealed the evidence that would have cleared the four was not brought to the
attention of the police. Similarly in the case of the Birmingham six the forensic evidence originally used to find
positive results of handling explosives was overturned, with the judge saying as a result of fresh evidence that these
convictions were unsafe and unsatisfactory. In both of these cases evidence that cleared the suspects was withheld
until further retrial. In the case of Stefan Kiszko, scientific evidence stated that he was incapable of leaving sperm at
the scene and therefore the suspect could not have been the offender. Likewise DNA cleared Sean Hodgson, with
the DNA analysis from the crime scene showed it couldn't have been him. This supports my conclusion that evidence
does play a large role in miscarriages of justice and that the criminal justice system can never be just until these
issues are fixed. In many of these miscarriages of justices things cannot be put right. For example Derek Bentley was
hanged in 1953, years before he was acquitted of his crimes and therefore justice can never be withheld. Stefan
Kiszko served 16 years in prison before his conviction was quashed in 1992, however he died in 1993 and therefore
he spent most of his life in prison. Similarly, Sean Hodgson was released from prison in 2009 and died in
2012.However, for some miscarriages of justice things have been put right. The Guildford four had their conviction
quashed by the court of appeal in 1989 and have since lived normal lives whilst the Birmingham six walked free in
1991 after their second appeal. In these two cases, they had the opportunity to live again. From this I can conclude
that most miscarriages of justice can never be put right and people often spend their lives in the shadow of their
convictions. Therefore, despite the criminal justice system trying to right their wrongs it is still largely unjust. From
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