MovieChat Forums > Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2012) Discussion > Is it the mistake of the police?

Is it the mistake of the police?

posted 8 years ago by lil_moe
2 replies | jump to latest

I don't quiet get it. I came to know about the Memphis 3 after seeing Devil's Knot (very good movie) but I don't understand the hatred directed towards the police.
This documentary practically says the police was incompetent (and probably coercive in establishing false statements) but weren't these boys convicted by the unanimous opinion of a jury? In other words, if the police screwed up in presenting the boys as the perpetrators of the crime, then wouldn't the jury members be more liable for the (possibly wrong) verdicts?
After seeing this installation of the documentary series, I feel that it's very heavily prejudiced against the police investigators but in my mind the American justice system is supposedly modeled to minimize errors by having the opinions of 3 separate entities weigh in on the verdict (the prosecution/police investigators, an objective jury and a veteran judge who understands the law and probably has seen that done that many times over).
My question is, do most people really feel that wrongful convictions (wether or not the Memphis 3 case is) are the sole responsibility of the police?

[–] PoppyTransfusion 8 years ago

My question is, do most people really feel that wrongful convictions (wether or not the Memphis 3 case is) are the sole responsibility of the police?

Good question to which it seems reasonable to say no ... however, having undertaken jury service myself (in the UK) I can say that the police are not always rigorous in their collection of evidence. If I give officers the benefit of the doubt, it might be that something, or someone, presents as so compelling that they are blind to other indicators that might be worth investigating. I found it surprising that Terry Hobbs was never interviewed by the police. Not because he might have killed the boys but because children are more often killed by a parent than a stranger. So I would have thought it a matter of procedure to interview parents and close relatives/friends as well as anyone else suspicious.

Collection of evidence to prove guilt is the foundation of a prosecution case. How the evidence is presented in court and how a jury deliberates what they are shown, is affected by gaps in evidence collection.

In the midst of winter I found there was, within me, an invincible summer

[–] DBLurker 7 years ago

This documentary practically says the police was incompetent (and probably coercive in establishing false statements) but weren't these boys convicted by the unanimous opinion of a jury? In other words, if the police screwed up in presenting the boys as the perpetrators of the crime, then wouldn't the jury members be more liable for the (possibly wrong) verdicts?

Yes but who put up the perception wall that these kids committed the murders without doubt (11/10)? These cops didn't even bother asking neighbors questions, forget doing investigative work. Without doubt, one of THE most incompetent authority figure's I've every witnessed.

If the cops hadn't created noise and drama, influencing people/jury, arresting kids, building false cases after recording coerced confessions, the result could've been entirely different.