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Encyclopedia > Falsified evidence

Falsified evidence, forged evidence or tainted evidence is used to either convict an innocent person, or to guarantee conviction of a guilty person. Some evidence is forged because the person doing the forensic work finds it easier to fabricate evidence than to perform the actual work involved. The planting of a gun at a crime scene would be used by the police to justify a shooting, and avoid possible prosecution for manslaughter.

Criminal defenses
Part of the common law series
Defenses to crime
Actual innocence
Excuse and exculpation
Defenses that deny the act:
Alibi  · Mistaken identity
Frameup  · Falsified evidence
Automatism
Defenses that negate intent:
Infancy  · Entrapment
Insanity  · Mental disorder
M'Naghten Rules
Diminished responsibility
Mistake of law  · Mistake of fact
Intoxication
Defenses that justify the act:
Self defense  · Consent
Duress  · Necessity
Provocation
See also Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Other areas of the common law
Contract law  · Tort law  · Property law
Wills and trusts  · Evidence

Contents

Image File history File links SmallLadyJustice. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... Actual innocence is the most widely used - yet often the least studied - defense to crime. ... In jurisprudence, an excuse or justification is a form of immunity which must be distinguished from an exculpation. ... Mistaken Identity may refer to albums: Mistaken Identity (Kim Carnes album) Mistaken Identity (Delta Goodrem album) This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... A frameup refers to the act of framing someone, that is, providing false evidence in order to prove someone guilty of a crime. ... Automatism is a disassociative state where the individual suffering from it has no control over their actions. ... Defense of infancy is a form of defense by excuse; in which a defendant argues that, at the time a law was broken, they were not criminally liable for their actions, as they had not reached an age of criminal responsibility. ... In jurisprudence, entrapment is a procedural defense by which a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which broke the law, because they were induced (or entrapped) by the police to commit said acts. ... In a criminal trial, the insanity defenses are possible defenses by excuse, via which defendants may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were mentally ill at the time of their allegedly criminal actions. ... In criminal law of commonwealth countries, the defense of mental disorder - sometimes called the defence of mental illness - is a legal defence by excuse, by which a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were at the time of their... The MNaghten Rules are used to establish insanity as an excuse to potential criminal liability, but the definitional criteria establish insanity in the legal and not the psychological sense. ... In criminal law, diminished responsibility (or diminished capacity) is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held criminally liable for doing so, as their mental functions were diminished or impaired. ... Mistake of law is a defense sometimes raised in criminal cases, although rarely with any success. ... Mistake of law and mistake of fact are two types of defense by excuse, via which a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law or liable for damages under a civil law action. ... An intoxication defense, in criminal law, is a defense by excuse, via which a defendant argues that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which broke the law, because they were intoxicated. ... This article and defense of property deal with the legal concept of excused (sometimes termed justified) acts that might otherwise be illegal. ... In the criminal law, consent may be an excuse and prevent the defendant from incurring liability for what was done. ... Duress (coercion) (as a term of jurisprudence) is a possible defense, via excuse, by which a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which broke the law. ... In criminal law, necessity is a possible excuse for breaking the law. ... In criminal law, provocation is a possible defense by excuse or exculpation alleging a total loss of control as a response to anothers provocative conduct sufficient to justify an acquittal, a mitigated sentence or a conviction for a lesser charge. ... Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of common law that punishes criminals for committing offences against the state. ... Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated the criminal law. ... A contract is any promise or set of promises made by one party to another for the breach of which the law provides a remedy. ... In the common law, a tort is a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy. ... Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land as distinct from personal or movable possessions) and in personal property, within the common law legal system. ... In the common law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the testator) regulates the rights of others over his property or family after death. ... The law of trusts and estates is generally considered the body of law which governs the management of personal affairs and the disposition of property of an individual in anticipation and the event of such persons incapacity or death, also known as the law of successions in civil law. ... The law of evidence governs the use of testimony (eg. ...


New York State Police Troop C scandal

In the New York State Police Troop C scandal of 1993, Craig D. Harvey a New York State Police trooper was charged with fabricating evidence. Harvey admitted he and another trooper lifted fingerprints from items the suspect, John Spencer, touched while in Troop C headquarters during booking. He attached the fingerprints to evidence cards and later claimed that he had pulled the fingerprints from the scene of the murder. The forged evidence was used during trial and John Spencer was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. The New York State Police Troop C scandal involved the fabrication of evidence used to convict suspects in New York State by the New York State Police. ...


FBI Crime Lab scandal

In the 1990s, the fingerprint, DNA, and explosive units of the FBI Crime Lab had written reports confirming local police department theories without actually performing the work. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... A fingerprint is an imprint made by the pattern of ridges on the pad of a human finger. ... The general structure of a section of DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid —usually in the form of a double helix— that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life, and most viruses. ...


See also

A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that they did not commit. ... Testilying is police slang for the practice of giving false testimony against a defendant in a criminal trial, typically for the purpose of making a stronger case against someone they believe to be guilty, although it may also be for the purpose of framing an innocent defendant. ... False arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges he or she was held in custody without reasonable cause or an order issued by a court of appropriate jurisdiction. ... A false confession is where a suspect in a crime admits their guilt to the crime, even though they are not responsible for the crime. ... Intimidation is the act of making others do what one wants through fear. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Judith Theresa Ward (born January 10, 1949 with the name Judith Minna Ward) was convicted of a series of Provisional Irish Republican Army bombings at the age of 25 after voluntarily confessing to them due to a mental illness. ... The Howland will forgery trial was a US court case in 1868 to decide Henrietta Howland Robinsons contest of the will of Sylvia Ann Howland. ...

References

  • National Law Journal; October 9, 1995; "Faked Evidence Becomes Real Problem-From Fingerprints to Photos to Computer Data, Lawyers are Learning to be Vigilant"
  • New York Times; November 22, 1992, Sunday; "Ripples of a Pathologist's Misconduct In Graves and Courts of West Texas. The prairie graveyards of West Texas are giving mute testimony to the misdeeds of a circuit-riding pathologist who left a trail of faked autopsies, botched blood samples and missing organs from the Panhandle to the Rio Grande. According to defense lawyers' estimates, as many as 20 capital murder cases ..."
  • John F. Kelly and Phillip K. Wearne; Tainting Evidence: Inside The Scandals At The FBI Crime Lab

The National Law Journal, a periodical founded in 1980, provides timely legal information of national importance to attorneys, including federal circuit court decisions, verdicts, practitioners columns, coverage of legislative issues, and legal news for the business and private sectors. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

External links



 

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