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  • Essay / Essay on Bias in the Criminal Justice System

    In the podcast, Jay, the eyewitness on whom the entire case is based, changes his story several times throughout the investigation and trial. After the trial, after seeing most of the arguments surrounding Adnan's Muslim religion, Jay said Adnan said "only Allah knows" in reference to the crime being one of religious intent. There was no mention of the role of religion in the crime Jay described until after the trials. This suggests that he may have added this religious element to link his story to the prosecution's argument. It's also possible that Jay, realizing his plea deal was on the line, added these extra details to make Adnan look as bad as possible. It is also plausible that he changed his story to please the police and prosecutors, since the prosecutor helped Jay find a private lawyer to represent him for free. This is something that is frowned upon by the law because it is a form of corruption and can cause the recipient to feel obligated to please the benefactor. Besides discrimination, unreliable witnesses are another gap in our criminal justice system.