"Racism is a major factor in unjust convictions"

This is crazy( the thought of what one innocent person has to go through).
Although the story is a common one, the racism here I guess is what the article does not state:
how the victim was victimized by law enforcements..because 95.9999% of the photos and images fed to her were all of black men...she had no choice but to pick one of them...right?

Hey after all, they all look alike... don't they? When someone is the victim or anything...their emotions get played on...and it certainly does not help any man
( esp of color) to have any prior conviction/summons'...this just proves that yes the justice system has failed many and is trying to correct past mistakes...but most the damage has already been done...these innocent men now have to come back and get re-intergrated into society...even though they did not do the cirme, but what is CERTAIN HERE THAT SOMEBODY BLACK HAD TO SO THE TIME!

First off, this is not a good example of racism. This is a good example of why people should not believe everything they hear, lawyers are in a court room for one reason and one reason only; lawyers are in a courtroom to support thier client. Not everyone can remember what is happening to them when in the middle of tragedy such as rape or other violent crimes, and this is a perfect example of why we are given free will. We have the right to say "I do not believe that person is guilty." So many people are jaded by what their government and society wants them to do it is at best pathetic. Sad thing is this man probably had a really good defense to the accusations made against him (considering he did not commit the crime) but since he is black and there was "eyewitness testimony" it was seen as an open and shut case. Imagine how this poor man must have been treated by law enforcement, in jail, and even more by his family. Would you believe even your closest family member if they had been identified as a horrible criminal when they said "I did not do this?" Who knows what people like this have to go through every day while the real criminals run around raping and pillaging and living as free as Americans can. What a shame.

When people say that "all black people look the same" Or "all asians, or whites...." they aren't being racist, they are speaking the truth. It has been proven that people have a difficult time determining distinguishing characteristics in people of a different ethnicity. Cross-racial identification is difficult for people of all ethnicities. This woman wasn't being racist, she made an extremely common mistake, which is why eyewitness testimony shouldn't be held in such high regard.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/oracetab.htm

Just using homocide as an example, blacks tend to commit MORE crimes than whites in most years. When looking at the breakdown per capita the difference is far more astonishing. It's no less racist to ignore these statistics claiming that blacks are treated unfairly than it is to look at these statistics and claim that all black people are bad. Both sides are wrong in that case. Ignorance OR improper use of these statistics can easily cross the line from right to wrong, as soon as people realize and address the fact that each race have their shortcomings in society the sooner people can work together to help each other across racial lines. I'm glad there are organizations that look at old cases and try to free people wrongly convicted but it's no reason to discard the entire justice system nor is it a reason to assume that all law enforcement is the enemy within.

Hell, case in point that certain races have a tendancy to disproportionately commit certain crimes, I think it's a safe bet that white males commit far more acts of pedofilia than black males. If anyone can find a direct link to those stats it'd be interesting to see.

Here's a whole long ass list of crime stats that I didn't have time to go all the way through:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm

I'm in a quandry as to how this example is one of racism. Eyewitness identification is one of the most unreliable methods of ID. Unfortunately too much emhasis is placed on it.

we don't trip anymore everyday life.they let us out on the streets then make us prisoner in our own homes i've been there and don't wanna go back

mandatory minimums

Thank God for DNA.

Mistakes are made often. AND these mistakes seem to involve black men. I'm just sayin'.

To scrape. I don't think there was necessarily racism involved in her testimony, but the thread seems to be running in that direction.

Cases like these are the ONE main reason that the death penalty needs to be done away with.
The majority of men on death row are black. It is a fact that a black man has more of a chance of receiving a life sentence or the death penalty, than a white man convicted under the same circumstances.
Oh yes, racism is alive and well in the US.

the woman was raped by a black man,,,,,(althogh wrong) she identified a black man..... so, where is the racism part of the story?

Damn Keith, i wanted to say that!

And of course those non-racists are also non-voters.

Racism aside for a moment, eye witness identification is one of the most unreliable pieces of evidence that can be presented in a courtroom. yet, prosecuters try to sell it as unimpeachable and juries consistantly buy it.

need to be more careful we gotta stck together and the families of the false convicted please hear your family when they said they didn't know family support is the most we have being behind bars thank you

How about crack versus cocaine codes and mandatory minimums? This story is shitty but not the most racist part of our systematic degradation of black communities in America.

Ultimately, the headline is true, but the example given is not a good example of racism.

You want to see racism in the justice department? Go no further than the NYPD, who used to lure poor black kids into lineups with 20 dollar bills, and forced them even if they refused the money. They had done nothing other than being black and many were convicted on that basis.

It's not just there too, the south is probably the worst and it's no better here in the west either.