Police Undercover Operations: The Standard of Mr. Big Stings - Research Paper

Introduction

The standard of Mr. Big Stings refers to police taking part in trickery for people to confess. The concept was an undercover operation that was formulated during the 1990s in Canada. While the practice is not used in other nations such as Britain and the United States, it is still widely applied in Australia and Canada (Dufraimont, 2015). Police officials spend weeks up to months in undercover, collecting as much evidence as they can about the suspect, including their habits and where they spend most of their time. After they have collected the information they require, police set up fake criminal operations. To convince the suspects into their gang, a police officer must make friendship. The final step in the process is asking for confession to crimes as proof of loyalty to the group. There is always a promise of proving their innocence to crimes by having other gang members confess. Confessions to Mr. Big does not have any repercussions on the suspect, who could have been threatened, making them fear about their safety and even seducing them into confessing further.

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False Guilty Pleas

The false guilty pleas happen when innocent individuals bargain for their freedom. Plea bargaining and guilty pleas are often regarded as a necessity for the criminal justice system to work appropriately and promptly. Most of the cases that are brought before a jury often end in plea bargains. The estimations place these numbers as high as 95% of the cases that go through trials (McLellan & Frederick, 2016)). It is challenging to comprehend why an innocent person would plead guilty over crimes. However, there are various reasons that people take plea deals. With the possibility of facing life imprisonment when one is convicted of a murder, the accused could choose reduced sentences or even lesser charges for manslaughter. A compelling and convincing expert or eyewitness testimony could make the accused believe they will not convince the jury about their innocence.

Tunnel Vision

The tunnel vision refers to focusing on a single suspect while excluding others. The idea poses significant threats and issues in the professional conduct of the jury and parties to the cases. The tunnel vision, as described in the Morin Inquiry, was the narrow and single-minded emphasis on a specific investigation or theory of prosecution. The goal of the focus is unreasonably coloring the assessment of data received and the conduct of an individual concerning the information (Jordan, Kaplan, Beety, & Findley, 2016). In some situations, prosecutors and police identify evidence that meets their theory compared to formulating a theory that is founded on the existing proof. Prosecutors and police who are influenced by the tunnel vision do not necessarily have ill-defined motives. The police also do not understand that they are suffering from negative effects. The pressure of solving a crime and ensuring the perpetrator is brought to justice increases their psychological aspect.

Systematic Discrimination

Systematic discrimination happens through gender bias, socioeconomic status, and racism. Studies have demonstrated that gender and race play crucial roles in wrongful convictions. According to Roach (2015), 70% of the exonerated individuals in the Innocence Project report are racialized prisoners. Over 61% are Caucasians, meaning that racial minorities have higher risks of wrongful convictions. In Canada, the indigenous people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. In 2016, Statistics Canada estimated that 26% of the total admissions to the territorial and provincial correctional facilities were aboriginal adults. At the same time, indigenous adults only make up 3% of the adult population in Canada (Roach, 2015). While there are no accurate statistics, there is a good reason for believing that the indigenous people are wrongfully convicted at higher rates than their non-indigenous colleagues.

The Evolution of and Errors in Forensic Science

There is a conflict in the criminal justice system's fight for finality and science's ever-dynamic nature. Analysis of DNA sequences was introduced during the 1980s to the criminal justice system, and since then, it has assisted in exonerating most innocent individuals. The outcomes of forensic analysis methods, including bite mark comparisons, hair microscopy, shoe comparisons, blood typing, and firearm tool mark assessments that were earlier accepted as reliable, are nowadays under serious scrutiny (Olney & Bonn, 2015). Most of these methods have been considered inadmissible and unreliable as proof in the court of law. Reliable forensic methods are still subjected to human identification and interpretation, which leaves room for human error.

Testimony From Jailed Informants

Incorrect or untruthful testimony leads to wrongful convictions, especially where there is no concrete proof. The Innocence Project estimates that 15% of the cases on wrongful convictions were overturned because of DNA analysis (Olney & Bonn, 2015). In these cases, the informant testified against the defendant during the initial trials. The most common type of informant testimony is called the "jailhouse snitch." They are often given incentives for testifying, including the withdrawal of criminal charges, money, or lighter sentences. In the past cases of wrongful convictions, deals provided to information in exchange for testimony were kept a secret from the defense to fact trials.

Professional Misconduct

Police, forensic experts, and lawyers collude to cause wrongful convictions. The procedural issues linked to the ways cases are tried to have negative impacts on wrongful convictions. The professional conducts define the ways prosecution and police handle cases, alongside the diligence of mounting the defense. Even though Innocence Canada understands that most police officers and lawyers act to the best interests, the defense counsel could mishandle the cases of their client. Defense counsel, particularly those given to the lower-income individuals, are overworked and have a lot of caseloads than they can sustain. Being spread too thin causes mistakes in judgments. On the same note, police could also face pressures during the investigations of high profile cases. Pressures come from the media, public, superiors, friends, and family of the victim (Olney & Bonn, 2015). While research has demonstrated that exerting pressure on people is beneficial and increases productivity, too much pressure causes tunnel vision and many negative effects. The prosecution takes part in professional misconduct through acts such as withholding evidence. With the few exceptions, the accused and the counsel have access to all proof, such as the exculpatory evidence. In the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, R. v. Stinchcombe, Justice Sopinka ruled that the Crown has a legal duty of disclosing all relevant data to the defense.

The Case of Glean Assoun, Exonerated on 1st March 2019

Glen Assoun is a leading case about wrongful convictions after the accused was exonerated in 2019. Glen Assoun was convicted and imprisoned for a crime he has held for over twenty years that he did not commit. Brenda Way, his former girlfriend, died on 12th November 1995. Assoun spent over seventeen years behind bars, where he faced daily abuse and extremely challenging conditions. He showed his innocence daily with a hat that read wrongly convicted 1998, never losing hope that the truth would finally come. His case represented one of the most disturbing instances of wrongful convictions in the history of Canada. There was a failure of accountability from both Halifax Regional Police and RCMP (Nimens, 2019). These included questionable police methods, collusion among witnesses, and tunnel vision. The most apparent violation was burying and destroying evidence that was discovered by Dave Moore, a former RCMP analyst.

Moore worked in criminal profiling, where he used the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS) of RCMP, and carried out a comprehensive assessment into Michael McGray, the convicted serial killer locked up for t...