Combating Wrongful Convictions

Ronald Sullivan, a clinical professor of law at Harvard, begins his talk on prison systems by describing a scenario in which someone returns from a trip only to find that they've been accused of a crime that they didn't commit. Unfortunately, these cases happen far too frequently, and many innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted aren't set free until their stories are corroborated decades later.

Often times, this is a result of public defenders not receiving the evidence they need to prove a person's innocence, single eyewitness being very prone to error, and the fact some confessions are coerced. Sullivan continues his talk by explaining some of the many wrongful convictions he's helped to rectify throughout his career, showing just how easy it can be for one to be put in prison for their whole life for no reason at all.

By considering these cases, Sullivan shows how justice is simply a decision -- something that people in power make happen. As these wrongful convictions demonstrate, sometimes all it takes to prevent these terrible occurrences is a little more time given to those in need, something that Sullivan encourages his audience to both be aware of and to take part in.