BC colloquium honors justice
Marcinda Coil
Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: News
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Bakersfield College's faculty, staff and administrators gathered in the Fireside Room on Oct. 26 for coffee, food and to honor a faculty member: criminal justice professor Peggy DeStefano.
Formerly known as NL Faculty Seminar Series, the colloquium was created a couple of years ago in order to give praise to scholarly accomplishments.
"This event is solely intended to honor our faculty," said Michael McNellis, chair of the Norman Levan Faculty Colloquium Steering Committee. "We love our students, but we need our space."
DeStefano's accomplishment, a lecture called Deconstructing the Path to Wrongful Convictions, has been in the making for six months and was delivered at the colloquium.
After acknowledging the many staff, including Levan, who attended the event, DeStefano demonstrated through PowerPoint and her hands how serious an issue wrongful convictions is, and that it is a problem that needs to be solved.
According to a judge, DeStefano explained, if only one percent of the population were wrongfully convicted, tens of thousands of innocent people would still be spending their days in prison.
For a class project, journalism students were assigned to re-investigate cases. The project resulted in ten exonerations.
Though DNA has come a long way in keeping innocent people out from behind bars, according to DeStefano, DNA is usually only useful in murder, rape or any crime involving the suspect leaving DNA behind. DNA only accounts for a small percentage. "We really are only getting a glimpse," she said.
According to DeStefano, evidence collecting, witnesses, jailhouse informants, interrogations, and counsel can all be defective and result in wrongful convictions.
"Sometimes evidence collected is never subjected to testing," said DeStefano. Because there often is media pressure, there is police pressure. Cops often believe that if they don't find a suspect pool within 48 hours, they may never solve the case, she said.
Fingerprinting can also be a problem.
Formerly known as NL Faculty Seminar Series, the colloquium was created a couple of years ago in order to give praise to scholarly accomplishments.
"This event is solely intended to honor our faculty," said Michael McNellis, chair of the Norman Levan Faculty Colloquium Steering Committee. "We love our students, but we need our space."
DeStefano's accomplishment, a lecture called Deconstructing the Path to Wrongful Convictions, has been in the making for six months and was delivered at the colloquium.
After acknowledging the many staff, including Levan, who attended the event, DeStefano demonstrated through PowerPoint and her hands how serious an issue wrongful convictions is, and that it is a problem that needs to be solved.
According to a judge, DeStefano explained, if only one percent of the population were wrongfully convicted, tens of thousands of innocent people would still be spending their days in prison.
For a class project, journalism students were assigned to re-investigate cases. The project resulted in ten exonerations.
Though DNA has come a long way in keeping innocent people out from behind bars, according to DeStefano, DNA is usually only useful in murder, rape or any crime involving the suspect leaving DNA behind. DNA only accounts for a small percentage. "We really are only getting a glimpse," she said.
According to DeStefano, evidence collecting, witnesses, jailhouse informants, interrogations, and counsel can all be defective and result in wrongful convictions.
"Sometimes evidence collected is never subjected to testing," said DeStefano. Because there often is media pressure, there is police pressure. Cops often believe that if they don't find a suspect pool within 48 hours, they may never solve the case, she said.
Fingerprinting can also be a problem.
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