After Innocence or Before Conviction?

 After watching the documentary “After Innocence,” I have a new perspective on the justice system and all legal matters in it.  One of the first things that got to me early on in the documentary was when a clip was shown from the Phil Donahue Show in 1993.  In this clip, they introduce DNA testing in the jails and there are several gentlemen sitting on stage whom were wrongly accused for crimes.  What made me feel hurt inside was the look on their faces.  These people had families, friends, some even had communities, that looked up to them or relied on them and the justice system had failed them.  All of these men had been wrongfully accused of crimes they didn’t commit and they had to suffer out the consequences for actions that were not even theirs.  In the clip it was noticeable that some of them were teary-eyed and some had already been crying.  What they went through wasn’t fair and no one should ever have to experience what they did.

Something that really surprised me and stuck out was when Nick Yarris began telling his story.  He was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder and served 23 years in jail.  When I heard that my mouth legitimately dropped open.  The way he spoke about his experience was heartbreaking and unsettling.  He was sentenced to solitary confinement and he said he experienced so many different things when he was released that it was like a whole new world.  Another part of his story that stood out to me was when he told the judge “You and I both know I didn’t kill anyone” and he said that the judge couldn’t even look him in the eye.  I can’t even begin to imagine what these people are going through and everything that they went through.  It causes permanent trauma that is very hard to recover from.

What still remains with me after viewing is what do people plan on doing to continue the process of exonerating people.  There are so many people still wrongfully convicted with the real criminals still wandering the streets.  Technology is more advanced in today’s world and I hope that now the likelihood of a situation like this happening often is very low.  My heart goes out to these people and their families as well as those who are currently in those situations.  A feeling that stayed with me was heartache.  I said it before and I’ll say it again, I really do feel for these people and their families.  I truly can’t imagine what they must be going through.

If we were to include research in our summaries they would no longer be summaries.  They would become reports of just random data and facts being put onto a paper.  The research can also alter our opinions on the documentaries themselves rather that forming a raw opinion based on just the movie.