By Jackie Miller

Prosecutors have an array of duties and a great deal of power. They work with the police and detectives to build a case against a defendant or defendants.

Ava Duvernay’s complex story, “When They See Us,” illuminates the racist practices and prosecutorial misconduct within our justice system. The abusive practice of prosecutors involved in the Central Park Five’s case echoes in current-day practices of prosecutors and mass incarceration. The chronicles in Duvernay’s series reveal the dehumanization, oppression and destruction of innocent individuals caught up in the cyclone of mass incarceration powered by prosecutorial misconduct and the miscarriage of justice.

The creation of the justice system was and still is instigated by oppression and institutional racism. 

Prosecutorial misconduct may involve shocking practices of coerced confessions, intimidation and suppression of evidence, among other deceitful tactics. Evidence has power in criminal proceedings. However, corrupt officials may fabricate all evidence to gain a conviction. Fabrication of evidence is often so expertly hidden that the lies blend cohesively together, depicting the illusion of truthfulness. 

A corrupt prosecutor will attempt to wrongfully convict a defendant by swaying the jury with fabricated evidence. Witnesses are encouraged to be deceitful in testimony while ignoring fairness in the justice system. The mere thought of a defendant being exonerated due to the lack of evidence energizes the misconduct. 

Prosecutorial misconduct is just one piece of a broken system. 

Imagine a prosecutor involved in a case in which friends have disagreed. One of the friends decides to pursue charges against the other friend. One friend knows the charges being filed are false but lies to the police and prosecutors out of anger.

Now, take into account a prosecutor who is not interested justice but about the number of case convictions and wins. This same prosecutor knowingly has no evidence to convict the defendant but wants to increase conviction rates, fabricates evidence and knowingly uses perjured testimony and suppresses evidence favorable to the defendant.

Michael Williams spent 16 years in prison because prosecutors purposefully withheld the inconsistencies in witness statements. In a separate situation in Louisiana, prosecutors concealed evidence, causing Robert Jones to spend 23 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. The nondisclosure of evidence and inconsistencies in witness statements create a grave injustice and undermines the justice system.

Prosecutors engaging in misconduct are more concerned about gaining a conviction than justice. The misconduct is a plague on the justice system, denying defendants a fair trial and leaving unhealable scars. 

Jackie Miller has a doctorate in psychology. She specializes in conflict resolution, meditation and workplace bullying.