For the last four years I have been introduced to the Criminal Justice system. My husband has stood trial for the same murder 3 times. His first trial was before I met him, his last two at The Central Criminal Court, The Old Bailey. He has stood in the dock at Number 1 Court, where other innocent people have stood and then gone to their deaths.
To face your own death and then be killed by the state for something you have not done, is more than a worst nightmare.
My husband would be dead today if capital punishment was still law.
The statistics point to around 4,000 people being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned today, and this ruins the life of their families, especially their children and their parents.
My experience has been that people do not want to talk about or consider why this happens. They seem to believe it could not happen to them, as they don't break the law. It can and does happen to anyone.
People seem to want to believe that the person is in the dock, so there must be something in it.
Tragically that is not always the case. The more high profile cases get media coverage, but they truly are 'the tip of the iceberg'.
The police need to get 'somebody', into the dock. There are many famous names of falsely accused and therefore often convicted innocent people I could write here, but I suspect most are still languishing in prison.
technomist
I am mindful that being personally involved it must be very painful for you. The idea that people are wrongly convicted and justice has to be worked for and can't be assumed is not an alien one to people involved in the justice system.
It is why we have a Court of Appeal and a House of Lords.