Innocence Project = Stupid Project

[CountDeMoney]

Sometimes, liberal social consciousness gets a little ahead of itself.

Dante Parrish always swore he was wrongly convicted for the 1999 murder of an East Baltimore man, and his pleas eventually gained the attention of the Innocence Project, which took up the case last year.

The evidence, according to lawyers for the small unit of state public defenders who represent people they believe have been wrongly convicted, was shaky from the start, relying on what they say was a false witness identification of Parrish and a gun that he never owned.

So when Parrish was awarded a new trial in January, Innocence Project attorneys considered it a victory, but one that lost its luster when the 35-year-old was arrested Thursday night and charged with the rape and fatal stabbing of Jason Madison Jr., 15.

Baltimore police say Parrish confessed to the killing Friday morning.

Michelle Nethercott, chief of the Innocence Project, said she stands by her agency's decision to fight for Parrish. In January, the state's attorney's office offered Parrish a plea deal that amounted to time served, and he was released, according to the city prosecutor's office.

"The case that we were involved in stands or falls on its own merit," Nethercott said. "It ... had all the hallmarks - you can't convict people on false evidence. Obviously, I'm horrified at what happened to this child. But I can't screen cases on future predictions on what might happen."

Parrish was led from police headquarters Friday morning to the Central Booking and Intake Center, where he was to be processed. But Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said Parrish was instead admitted to Mercy Medical Center after complaining of headaches and a head injury.

The crime police are accusing Parrish of has gained national attention and shaken the East Baltimore neighborhood where Jason's body was found early Tuesday. Jason, who had been bound, gagged and stabbed in the head and throat with a box cutter, was discovered in the closet of his aunt's rowhouse in the 2400 block of Llewelyn Ave.

Parrish is charged with gagging the youth in his East Baltimore rowhouse (owned by the victim's aunt), raping him and then stabbing him in the head and throat before stuffing him in a closet.

Parrish is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault and first-degree sex offense, among other charges.

[The Brain]

Innocence proves nothing. It's truer than people think.

[Martinus]

So what's your argument? People who were wrongly convicted should stay in prison, because by the time they get out, they are demoralized enough, to actually turn into criminals?

If anything, it show the complete failure of both the justice system (assuming he was innocent, he was wrongly imprisoned) and the prison resocialization system (since not only he wasn't resocialized in prison, assuming he was innocent, the prison actually made a criminal out of an innocent man).

Let's lock you up for 10 years in prison, and see how's your moral compass after that.

[The Brain]

A knee-jerk pro-gay response from Mart. DIDNT SEE THAT ONE COMING

[CountDeMoney]

So what's your argument? People who were wrongly convicted should stay in prison, because by the time they get out, they are demoralized enough, to actually turn into criminals?

If anything, it show the complete failure of both the justice system (assuming he was innocent, he was wrongly imprisoned) and the prison resocialization system (since not only he wasn't resocialized in prison, assuming he was innocent, the prison actually made a criminal out of an innocent man).

Let's lock you up for 10 years in prison, and see how's your moral compass after that.

Face it, Marty...if he hadn't raped an underaged teen boy, you wouldn't even have posted.

Martinus, President of the Innocence Taken By Force Because It's Hawt Project.

[Martinus]

Oh fuck off, both of you. 

[Darth Wagtaros]

Marty's excitement about prison rape fantasies aside, I don't think any prison based rehabilitation program has ever worked.  In fact, prison probably does just turn people into more disgusting scum than they were going in. 

[Maximus]

Marty's excitement about prison rape fantasies aside, I don't think any prison based rehabilitation program has ever worked.  In fact, prison probably does just turn people into more disgusting scum than they were going in.

IMO, incarceration is more cruel than execution.

[Josquius]

I don't see the problem here.
Guy proven to have not commited a crime- is released. Utterly fair.
That he then went onto commit another crime is neither here nor there.

[Capetan Mihali]

Marty's excitement about prison rape fantasies aside, I don't think any prison based rehabilitation program has ever worked.  In fact, prison probably does just turn people into more disgusting scum than they were going in.

IMO, incarceration is more cruel than execution.

You've tried both?   

[Strix]

Marty's excitement about prison rape fantasies aside, I don't think any prison based rehabilitation program has ever worked.  In fact, prison probably does just turn people into more disgusting scum than they were going in.

I agree that prison based rehabilitation programs don't work. Most non-prison rehab programs don't work as well.

I disagree with the second part. It all depends on how long they stay in prison. The longer the sentence the more institutionalized they become. I have the least amount of trouble from my murderers and others who spent 10+ years in prison. They don't want to go back and they now crave structure in their lives.

The really disgusting scum doesn't get let back out unless something like the Innocence Project screws up the process.

[Eddie Teach]

I'd be curious to know the overall recidivism rates of people gotten off by this program vs. those released normally.

[DGuller]

I don't see the problem here.
Guy proven to have not commited a crime- is released. Utterly fair.
That he then went onto commit another crime is neither here nor there.

Agreed.  Chances are, if police is looking for a convenient guy to pin the crime on, that guy is going to be scum.  That doesn't mean that our legal system should be used to convict people who you know are scum.

[Strix]

I don't see the problem here.
Guy proven to have not commited a crime- is released. Utterly fair.
That he then went onto commit another crime is neither here nor there.

The problem is that the guy plead guilty to the crime. All that the Innocence Project accomplished was lessening his sentence. He did what he was convicted of doing.

They let a murderer get out early with predictable results.

[Stonewall]

I'd be curious to know the overall recidivism rates of people gotten off by this program vs. those released normally.

The recidivism rate would be zero since people who are released never offended in the first place. 

The really disgusting scum doesn't get let back out unless something like the Innocence Project screws up the process.

The Innocence Project isn't just some group of defense lawyers trying to get the guilty released for shits and giggles.  The vast vast majority of people who are released as a result of their work are actually innocent of their alleged crimes.  The process was screwed up by overzealous or incompetent police and prosecutors who played the prime role in locking up an innocent person.