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The Exonerated | The Operation of the Criminal Justice System

Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many essays on drama. In the following essay, he discusses the ways in which the operation of the criminal justice system may result in innocent people being convicted.

Although over half the countries in the world have abolished capital punishment, the United States continues to use it, and a consistent majority of Americans support it. A 2004 Harris poll found that 69 percent favored the use of capital punishment, even though only 41 percent thought it was a deterrent. Thirty-six percent favored an increase in the number of executions. However, few people who have investigated the issue in depth can remain quite so sanguine about the criminal justice system in capital cases. The problems with the system, which are dramatized so effectively in The...

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