Miscarriages of Justice
Class time: Wednesday and Friday 11:30 AM -12:50 PM Room: Engelhard Hall 100 Office Hours: Wednesday and Friday 10:00 AM- 11:00 AM Office: Center for Law and Justice, Room 579E Instructor: Elizabeth Webster Email: liz.webster@rutgers.edu Twitter: @Liz_Webby, follow tweets with hashtag #RutgersMoJ
Course Description: This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of criminal justice system error, drawing from the fields of criminology, psychology, and the law. We will weigh the balance between public safety and due process rights in a variety of situations including wrongful conviction and acquittal, official misconduct, and discrimination. We consider the risks and consequences of falsely accusing the innocent as well as neglecting to apprehend the guilty. Through class discussions and coursework, we will examine the rate of error, institutional responses to error, and the ways in which policies and practices can exacerbate, or minimize, miscarriage of justice.
Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: • Critically evaluate investigative procedures and trial tactics for their ability to administer justice fairly and seek the truth • Identify and describe the hallmarks of miscarriage of justice • Analyze criminal justice policy for its potential to prevent, or contribute to, miscarriages of justice • Assess the strength of exculpatory/ inculpatory evidence
Required Texts: Acker, James R. and Redlich, Allison D., Wrongful Conviction: Law, Science, and Policy, Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2011. Simon, Dan, In Doubt: The Psychology of the Criminal Justice Process, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012. Thompson-Cannino, Jennifer, Ronald Cotton and Erin Torneo, Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption, New York: St Martin’s Press, 2009. Weekly readings to be posted on Blackboard (BB) or accessed directly through the internet
Attendance/ Participation: Regular attendance and active participation are expected. The success of the class depends upon your positive presence. Since this is a discussion-based class, you are expected to respectfully contribute to the discussion. However, your participation grade depends less on how much you contribute than on your positive presence in the classroom. Positive presence means: attending regularly and arriving on time, turning off phones and removing headphones, actively listening, taking notes, and refraining from leaving the room until class is finished. Read: If a student is tardy, disruptive, or inconsiderate it will not help his/her participation grade to contribute to the discussion on occasion. Respect for fellow classmates is paramount. I do not take attendance or count the number of classes you have missed. However, the expectation is that you will attend unless you have a compelling reason not to attend. Missing class regularly will hurt your grade.
Grading: Letter grades will be assigned as follows: A 90.0% or higher B+ 87.0% to 89.9% B 80.0% to 86.9% C+ 77.0% to 79.9% C 70.0% or 76.9% D 60.0% to 69.9% F 59.9% or lower Exams (2) – 40% Picking Cotton Essay – 15% Paper Proposal – 5% Final Paper – 20% Class Participation – 20%
Exams: Two exams will be offered during normal class time and should not take longer than 80 minutes to complete. Each exam will cover only the material covered since the last exam and none will be cumulative. They will consist of a variety of multiple choice, term definition, short answer
and essay questions. We will have a brief in-class review session for each of the three exams, and students will receive a study guide. There will be no final exam. Exam dates: Oct 7, Nov 11
Missed Exams: Students who fail to take an exam on the date scheduled will not be provided a make-up exam unless extenuating circumstances exist AND proper documentation is provided to warrant such action. Failure to promptly notify me or provide documentation of the need for a make-up examination will result in a grade of zero for that examination. Documentation must be provided before the make-up exam can be administered.
Picking Cotton Essay: (6-8 pages) Worth 15% of your final grade, the Picking Cotton essay is due September 30th. As you write, be sure to draw from multiple sources: The Picking Cotton book itself, but also the Simon book and the Acker and Redlich text. All three texts should contribute to your understanding of the case. Structure your essay as follows: Introduction: Summarize the crime, the wrongful conviction, and the resolution, focusing broadly on the errors contributing to the injustice (approximately one page) Prompt One: Describe the psychological processes at work in Jennifer’s misidentification and in her growing confidence that Ronald Cotton was the perpetrator. What was the detective’s role in this misidentification? Describe the specific eyewitness identification procedures in the case. What does social science now suggest about protecting eyewitness evidence? (two- three pages) Prompt Two: Describe how tunnel vision and racial bias contributed to a rush to judgment in this case. Look beyond the eyewitness misidentification and address the specific cognitive biases that lead both Jennifer, and law enforcement, to fixate on Ronald Cotton as the perpetrator (two- three pages) Conclusion: Evaluate the social costs of this criminal justice system error and of eyewitness misidentification in general. Do you believe that the risk of eyewitness mistakes can be minimized to an acceptable rate of error? What are the costs/benefits of continuing to use eyewitness evidence as a tool to convict? (approximately one page)
Paper Proposal: After selecting a paper topic, please prepare a two-page proposal including your thesis statement, how you plan to organize the paper, and the resources that you intend to consult. Include full citations for the resources.
Final Paper: (8-10 pages) Choose a case from the National Registry of Exonerations (preferably one that has also received some news coverage) and write, at length, about the specific errors and cognitive biases that contributed to the injustice. Errors may include flawed procedures, misconduct or negligence, violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights, etc. Model the organization of the paper after your Picking Cotton essay, incorporating relevant readings and independent research throughout. The final paper is worth 25% of your grade. It is due Wednesday, December 14th, and it must be handed in on or before this date. I will not accept late papers, so please have your paper prepared
before the deadline. You may write your paper on a topic selected from a list that I’ll provide in class. The final paper should be between 8 and 10 pages with standard margins, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-sided. You will submit this paper online, where it will be checked for plagiarism. Academic integrity and honor code standards apply. Be sure to include a proper works cited page, with at least three sources.
Course Schedule: DATE Wed, Sept 7
REQUIRED READINGS/ ASSIGNMENTS DUE Introduction, course description and expectations Overview of the syllabus
Fri, Sept 9 Errors of Justice: Types of Error
BB Reading: Selection from Forst 2004. Errors of Justice: Nature, Sources and Remedies, Chapters 1 and 6 Begin Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
Wed, Sept 14
Reading: Acker and Redlich, Chapter 1, pgs. 3-20
Errors of Justice: What We Know and Don’t Know
Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
Fri, Sept 16
Reading: Yoffe 2017. “Innocence Is Irrelevant in the Age of the Plea Bargain.” https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/in nocence-is-irrelevant/534171/
Everyday Errors of Justice: Pretrial Detention and False Guilty Pleas
Reading: Pinto 2015. “The Bail Trap” The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/magazine/the-bailtrap.html Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption Wed, Sept 21 Errors of Justice: When the Guilty Go Free
BB Reading: Acker 2013. “The Flipside Injustice of Wrongful Convictions: When the Guilty Go Free” Albany Law Review. Reading: “Why are American Cops So Bad at Catching Killers?” The Marshall Project. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/02/why-areamerican-cops-so-bad-at-catching-killers#.te6LPasIM
Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption Fri, Sept 23
Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
Felony Wrongful Convictions and Tunnel Vision
BB Reading: Simon. Chapter 2: “We’re Closing in On Him: Investigation Dynamics” pgs. 17-49
Wed, Sept 28
Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
Investigation Stage Errors: Eyewitness Misidentification
Reading: Simon. Chapter 3: “Officer, That’s Him: Eyewitness Identification of Perpetrators” pgs. 50-89 In-Class Viewing: 60 Minutes episode on Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton “Eyewitness.” (25 minutes)
Fri, Sept 30
Reading: Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption
Investigation Stage Errors: Eyewitness Procedures
Picking Cotton Essay Due
Wed, October 5
Review for Exam One
Fri, Oct 7
Exam One
Wed, Oct 12
Reading: Simon, Chapter 5: “Just Admit It, You’re Guilty Interrogating Suspects” pgs. 120-143
Investigation Stage Errors: Interrogations and False Confessions
Reading: Acker and Redlich, Chapter 3, pgs. 91-140
Viewing: Scenes of a Crime (88 minutes)
Fri, Oct 14
Reading: Acker and Redlich, Chapter 4, pgs. 141-210
Investigation Stage Errors: Interrogations and False Confessions
Reading: Starr 2013. “The Interview: Do Police Interrogation Techniques Produce False Confessions?” The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/09/theinterview-7
Wed, Oct 19
Reading: Acker and Redlich, Chapter 8, pgs. 391-433
Investigation Stage Errors: Informants Fri, Oct 21 Investigation Stage Errors: Junk Science, Flawed Science, Expert Witnesses, Forensic Misconduct
Reading: National Academy of Sciences report “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States” Introduction and Recommendations, pgs. 1-33 https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228091.pdf Reading: Shelton 2008. “The ‘CSI Effect’ Does it Really Exist?” NIJ
http://www.nij.gov/journals/259/pages/csi-effect.aspx Viewing: PBS Frontline: “The Real CSI” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/real-csi/ Wed, Oct 26 Investigation Stage Errors: Police Misconduct
BB Reading: Bayley 2002. “Law Enforcement and the Rule of Law: Is There a Tradeoff Reading: Acker and Redlich, Chapter 5, pgs. 232-253
Fri, Oct 28
Reading: Acker and Redlich, Chapter 5, pgs. 211-231
Adjudication Stage Errors: Prosecutorial Misdeeds, Misconduct
Reading: Coloff, “The Innocent Man.” https://longform.org/posts/the-innocent-man
Wed, Nov 2
Reading: Acker and Redlich. Chapter 6 pgs. 279-313
Adjudication Stage Errors: Viewing: “Defending Gideon” The Constitution Project Ineffective Assistance of Counsel http://www.constitutionproject.org/publicationsresources/defending-gideon/ Fri, Nov 4 Lack of Accountability
Reading: John Thompson 2011. “The Prosecution Rests, But I Can’t” The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10thompson .html
Wed, Nov 9
Exam Two Review
Fri, Nov 11
Exam Two
Wed, Nov 16
Class Cancelled - Instructor conference
Fri, Nov 18
Class Cancelled - Instructor conference
Wed, Nov 23
Class Cancelled - Thanksgiving Recess
Fri, Nov 25
Class Cancelled - Thanksgiving Recess
Wed, Nov 30
Viewing: PBS Frontline. “Burden of Innocence” (55 min)
Life After Exoneration
Paper Proposal Due
Fri, Dec 2
Guest Speaker: Karen Wolff, Innocence Project Social Worker Reading: Roberts and Stanton (2007). “A Long Road Back After Exoneration, and Justice Is Slow to Make Amends.” The New York Times, with interactive feature: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/25/nyregion/ 20071125_DNAI_FEATURE.html
Wed, Dec 7
Guest Speaker: Jennifer Thompson
Life After Exoneration
Reading: Simon. Chapter 8, “Toward Accuracy” pgs. 206222
Fri, Dec 9
Rough Draft Workshop
Wed, Dec 14
Last day of class Final Paper Due
General Information Offensive or Sensitive Material In learning about crime and criminology, students may encounter language, depictions, or attitudes that they find disturbing or offensive. Please feel free to discuss with me any concerns you may have with course materials. At the same time, our topics for discussion may involve sensitive issues. If you would like to avoid participating in a particular class session, please see the professor before the class meeting. Academic Integrity As a member of the Rutgers University community you are not to engage in any academic dishonesty. You are responsible for adhering to basic academic standards of honesty and integrity as outlined in the Rutgers University Policy on Academic Integrity for Undergraduate and Graduate Students http://studentconduct.rutgers.edu/academic-integrity Your academic work should be the result of your own individual effort, you should not allow other students to use your work, and you are required to recognize and reference any material that is not your own. Violations of the university’s policy will result in appropriate action. Academic Resources Students with Disabilities Rutgers University is committed to providing equal educational opportunity for persons with disabilities in accordance with the Nondiscrimination Policy of the University and in compliance with § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. For additional information please visit the website https://ods.rutgers.edu/ or contact the representative for the Newark Campus. Kate Torres Coordinator of ADA Services and Academic Support Robeson Campus Center, Suite 352 350 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Newark, NJ 07102 Phone: 973.353.5300 Fax: 973.353.5666 E-mail: kate.torres@rutgers.edu Website: https://ods.rutgers.edu/ Psychological and Counseling Services If you experience psychological or other difficulties as a result of this course, or because of other issues that may interfere with your performance in the course, please contact the university’s psychological and counseling service center (http://www.counseling.newark.rutgers.edu; 973-353-5805), which is located in Blumenthal Hall, room 101. The center offers a variety of free, confidential services to part-time and fulltime students who are enrolled at Rutgers. If you are interested in finding out more about • Accelerated Master's Program (B.S. /M.A.)
• Criminal Justice National Honor Society (Alpha Phi Sigma) Please refer to the School of Criminal Justice website http://rscj.newark.rutgers.edu/