Forensic Psychology - Reflections on the Robert Baltovich Case

Reflections on the Robert Baltovich Case
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Reflections on the Robert Baltovich Case
Forensic psychology ties psychology to the criminal justice system. It is the type of psychology disciples investigating murder cases, wrongful convictions and responsible for understanding crown witness and crown convict's different sides of a similar case. Roles of forensic psychology are implied in Robert Baltovich, who was wrongfully convicted for his girlfriend's murder (Norris et al., 2019). Robert served eight years in a Canadian federal prison for a crime he was innocent of. Based on the actuality in principles of justice and tenets of forensic psychology, Robert was acquitted of murder for the first time in 1999 when an Innocence Canada organization represented and appealed for his higher court hearing. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the causes of wrongful conviction to better judicial services and the criminal justice system. Concerning wrongful convictions, the paper aims to provide better alternatives that prevent a repetition of such cases, for criminological studies show that many beliefs, particularly in the United States, result from eyewitness biases (Norris et al., 2019). The same case applies to Roberts Baltovich’s circumstance. Judicious determination of criminal cases is the first step towards vindicating the wrongfully convicted inmates.
Analysis of Robert Baltovich’s Case
The presiding judge on Robert's case is an embodiment of impeding factors that lead to individuals' wrongful conviction. High note cases involving first or second-degree murder cases require the autonomy of the jury. The judge, in this case, influenced the jury's decision by asking them to listen more on the witness' side than the convicts as told by Harland-Logan (1990). The judge inappropriately introduced the witnesses to using hypnosis for eventual conviction of the accused. A suspect of case begins to lose the prosecution when the jury sides with judge and the judge sides with witnesses. Hypnosis is a process that introduces someone to increased realization of his cognitive and physical functionalities. In forensic psychology and criminal justice systems, hypnosis allows the subjects to recall better memories to facilitate the outcome of a case. In one of the statements recorded by a witness in Robert’s conviction, a mismatch in hypnosis results and the witness’ prior statements demarcates the wrongful application of hypnosis in the first place (Zalman, 2017). Hypnosis led to the false confession of the eyewitnesses.
Furthermore, the judge did not implement his required constitutional mandate of remaining nonpartisan to the prosecution. Drummond and Mills (2020) assert that by influencing the jury's individual opinions, he becomes part of the guilty crowd in a judicial system. Similarly, the administration of hypnosis to the witnesses at the time when no further evidence is admittable into the case is debatably irregular to the prosecution, as shown by Drummond and Mills (2020). It comes out more like a quest to finalize the sentence in haste. The jury and the judge disproportionately disregarded the ramif...