Failures in Criminal Justice (Essay Sample)

Title: Criminal Investigative failures
Name
Institution
Date of submission

Review of chapters
Some of the issues that leads to investigative failures include; cognitive biasness, heuristic biasness, organizational traps, group think, probability errors, coincidence, computation mistakes, ego, fatigue and wrongful innocence claims. All this investigative failures can be avoided by having in mind that one coincidence, one piece of bad luck and one mistake is possible to lead to an investigative failure .Once the mistake has occurred, the degree of other mistakes increases. The biggest problem is refusal to concede the original mistake. In case of unreliable analytical methods used in investigation are ignored, subverted and marginalized injustice steps in (Stojkovic, Klofas & Kalinich, 1999).
Review of chapter 8-12
January 20 1998 Stephanie Crowe 12 year old was stabbed in her bedroom at her California home. Murder cases were not common in Escondido. The same year she was murdered there was another homicide. This made the investigators conclude that the murder were an inside job. They turned their focus to Michael her older brother 14 years old. After two days of interrogation Michael confessed to having killed his sister. Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser were also implicated in the murder. They were subjected to cruel psychological interrogation to which Houser maintained his innocence (Rossmo, 2009).
Investigative failures are; Investigators subjected the three young teenagers to cruel psychological interrogation that forced them to confess to having murderer the 12 year old Stephanie. The investigators did not have any physical evidence that would convict the teenagers. The confession of the teenagers contradicted with a conflict as to who stabbed Stephanie and how many time she was stabbed. The confessions further were not consistent to forensic evidence. County prosecutor still went ahead and charged the three teenage boys with murder.hey boys were still young and unaware of their rights, they feared being imprisoned but were coerced to confessing as a way of escaping the horrible ordeal and saving their parents a great deal of suffering. Michael was confused after the long hours of brutal psychological torture and was convinced that he had killed his sister he was further given a false impression that the machine (CVSA) computer voice stress analyzer had given them evidence that he stabbed his sister (Rossmo, 2009).
The prosecutor was inconsistent and did not analyze the scene of the murder. There was biasness in evaluation of evidence. They concluded that it was an inside job marginalizing evidence such as the laundry door which was could have provided fingerprint as to who closed the door. They were convinced that it was an inside job. They wanted their theory to fit instead of using facts. The initial investigation that was carried out was subjective. Because the same year there was a homicide in the city they concluded that this was the same case as the previous one (Rossmo, 2009).
The same night Stephanie was murdered, a mentally ill Richard Tuite was spotted in the area near Stephanie’s home. The police believed that because they knew Tuite that he was unlikely to commit a no trace evidence murder, they marginalized Tuite as a potential suspect and held on to the confession citing the murder could have been convicted by someone from the inside and already they had the confession and evidence to back it up. The investigators failed to use deductive reasoning even having information from a former Tuite’s former inmate who told the police that Tuite fantasized stabbing someone on the neck and back the same way Stephanie’s murder was articulated.
Later DNA evidence found that Crowe blood was spattered on Tuite clothes which he wore on the night of the murder. The clothing’s had been seized by police department of Escondido on the night of murder and all along it had been on their control. The investigators failed to have the blood which was visible tested to determine if it was a human blood or an animal blood. It took four years to analyze this evidence and convict Tuite as the possible murderer. The long period taken by the investigators to analyze physical evidence was a compromise in the sought for justice of the 12 year Stephanie Crowe (Rossmo, 2009).
The investigators despite having Tuite’s clothes at their custody and all the leads to their theory having no basis they still insisted that the confession of the juveniles’ whom they had manipulated to do so was enough evidence for the case. It could have been obvious if it was a homicide quarrels, screams and arguments could have been heard but at least one of the family members.
The police did not take into consideration the fact that one family member said they found their bed room door opened and others recounted noises which they thought were caused by the cats. There were several calls made to 911 by the neighbors about a transient Tuite who was moving from one house to another unto which the investigators didn’t look into.
Miller Gail 20 year old nursing assistant had been raped and murdered on January 31 1969. Police offered a reward of $2000 for anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the culprit. Albeit after receiving the reward he pointed out Milgaard and his two friends. After 23 years there was the arrest of Larry fisher the area serial rapist and murderer (Rossmo, 2009).
Investigative failures associated with the case are: The police announced to the public that is a huge reward for anyone who could lead to the arrest of the rapist and not evidence. One man who could be having a grudge against David said he was responsible for the murder of the 20 year old. Anybody from the public could claim they saw someone doing it if they will not be asked to provide physical evidence for their accusation (Rossmo, 2009).
The prosecutor didn’t not consider the possibility that albeit could be an informant. This incompetence delayed justice to the slain Gail miller and convicting David wrongfully. Before the arrest and conviction of David the police had investigated 160 people, it is evident that they lacked enough resources that could have given them a clear lead. The police moved from investigation to verification mode even though David had an alibi. The investigators were biased and could not believe that the youths were telling the truth, they kept calling them back to the station hoping they will contradict their statements (Rossmo, 2009).
The coercive interrogation of the witnesses by detectives made them change their statements to save themselves the endless trips to the station. Since the lady was raped the semen from her body was the first evidence that could have been used to identify her rapist and killer. The police nonfeasance and misfeasance cost David 23 years in prison (Matrix Group International, 2015).
The police failed to investigate Fishers ex-wife who had told the police that on the night Gail was murdered she had notice Fisher was nervous and a kitchen knife was missing. The police marginalized her report and delayed justice after all they had convicted David. (Rossmo,2009).
Edward McMillan body was found on February 26 1994 near Anacostia River
Investigative failures associated with the case are; Trainum was entrusted with this case since he had leant the importance of methodological procedures and complete documentation he was renowned for multidisciplinary approaches. It was assumed since he had been successful in solving other homicide cases that would be the same case for all of them (Matrix Group International, 2015).
The confession did not match the facts, but the investigators ignored crucial evidenced that pointed away from the confession. Police during their interrogation gives the alleged suspect key details and evidence prompting them to confess especially if they are assured that the consequences will be lenient when you confess than when the police discover by themselves. With the possibility of data manipulation and paid informants many opt to confess to crimes they didn’t commit out of coercion and intimidation (Rossmo, 2009).
DNA analysis was ignored on account that the police already believed that no one can confess to a crime he or she did not commit. They ended up marginalizing, ignoring and subverting. They failed to evaluate the confession and check for possible contamination, examine whether the suspect was asked leading questions or whether there were instances of cold reading techniques (Rossmo, 2009).
Theresa Allore was 19 years and was found dead in 1978. Six days after her disappearance the college refused to organize for a search for one student as they were protecting their reputation.
Investigative failures are: The police did not take serious the report of disappearance of 19 year old Theresa. The police dismissed the report terming her as a runaway probably because she was pregnant or suicidal. The police jumped into conclusion and never took her disappearance as anything serious. The police wanted to prove their theory of drug overdose. They never investigated facts such as she was never in the party there was incompetence and inconsistency in the investigation when her body was found five months later it may have been too late to collect a lot of evidence as her body was in the water for five months. There was heuristic biasness as the torn scarf; they found wallet and the state her body was found in were all sidelined (Matrix Group International, 2015).
The investigators only interrogated 200 people of the demography implying they were not willing to solve the case instead they were looking for evidence to prove their theory. The police department five years after her murder they destroyed the evidenced that could have sol...