Evidence Tampering

9922In this class and other AJ classes, in general, there has been discussion and a range of opinions about criminal conduct in policing.

Regardless of where you stand on this issue, this video presents an article both present real-world examples of how law enforcement can, both lose and maintain the trust of the public.

Please listen to the entire Video press conference by the Polk County, FL Sherriff. 3 Polk County deputies arrested for evidence tampering

https://youtu.be/RzJ4GoXk6qw (Links to an external site.)

Read the article: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/preservation-evidence-criminal-cases.html

More than half of all wrongful criminal convictions are caused by government misconduct, study finds. Wrongful Criminal Convictions are Caused by Gov Misconduct.pdf Download Wrongful Criminal Convictions are Caused by Gov Misconduct.pdf

Considering what you have learned so far in this evidence class, address the following:

Was the process of arrest and evidence processing in alignment with or different from what you have learned so far in this course and explain why?
What is the potential impact of the evidence tampering if it had not been discovered?
The third resource, an article on wrongful criminal convictions, mentions policies and issues like “blind lineups,” video-recording of suspect interrogations, ineffective work by defense lawyers, or misconduct of prosecutors. What two (2) other safeguards or checks and balances (not mentioned in the article) can you think of that might help preserve the integrity of evidence to be considered as evidence in criminal cases, while also decrease the likelihood of intentional or unintentional evidence tampering?