Exoneration: The Fight for Freedom

       Behind the steel bars of the US justice system, many may never live to see the light of day again. Some live in fear that their so-claimed "wrongs" may never be made right and their faultless crimes will never be resolved. There are many, although not well known, that are the victims of wrongful conviction and are wasting away inside prison doors as the result of inadequate measures within the US justice system. Exoneration due to DNA testing has been crucial in the aid of those in which have been wrongfully convicted, and leading this fight for freedom is none other than the adequately named 'Innocence Project.'

       The Innocence Project is a foundation that aims to exonerate prisoners who can be proven innocent through the methods of DNA testing. In the past years, DNA testing has been crucial in deciphering between criminals and the wrongfully convicted, and has taken bounds and leaps in the direction of creating a more 'just' justice system. More reliable than eye-witness accounts and interrogation methods, DNA testing utilizes pieces of DNA discovered at a crime scene to provide evidence determining guilty/non-guilty suspects. One case, in which four teenage boys were convicted of raping and killing Lori Roscetti in Chicago (1986), shows how DNA testing can be the tool of freedom for those who were wrongfully convicted. The four teenage boys, natives of Chicago, were wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not commit, and due to pressure from the public and fraudulent test results, were sentenced to time in prison. Thanks to DNA collected from the Roscetti scene and the intervention of the Innocence Project, the boys were able to walk free, while the real convicted felons responsible for the murder were sentenced to life in prison. This is just one of the many ways DNA has helped freed prisoners that are falsely at blame.

       When we were first asked to respond to the exoneration stories we listened to in class and the idea of the Innocence Project, I was slightly taken back by what I had heard. I had never given much thought to the happenings of the US justice system, but after listening to these stories my perception was greatly altered. Although these stories did not impact me to the point where I was genuinely angry and upset with law and court officials, I began to see how there are small holes in our society's justice system that can have huge impacts on the lives of others. Hearing about the four teenage boys that had 15 years of their life taken away from them and seeing how tactics used by officers can impact the thought process of suspects showed me that there are still areas within our system that greatly need improvement, but I could see how we are already making progress. With DNA testing and foundations like the Innocence project, I can already tell that citizens have taken action, and although some men may forever stay behind bars, we can work our hardest and try our best to make sure that we can free those that are wrongfully convicted.

     

Laughter: The Best Medicine

       With the compounded stress of our daily lives, we often forget the importance of laughter, and how sharing a laugh with a friend or family member can help relieve stress and improve our general health.

       The final article of a four-part series written by Mary Payne Bennett and Cecile Lengacher sheds light on the possible benefits of humor in various health outcomes, and gives information on research related to the new field of "laughter medicine." Upon studying Cardiovascular patients in Japan, an author stated the following: "A positive correlation was noted between NK cell activity and scores on both the extraversion scale and a sense of humor scale [...] the results indicate an association between general positive feelings and higher levels of NK cell activity." This information shows that, when exposed to humorous or positive activities, there is a chance that the patient's NK cell activity will increase, which will have a positive impact on immune systems and have benefits including prevention of the spread of cancer and destruction of cancerous cells. This information, although in very early stages, can show us how laughter may have a positive effect on our immune systems, and can benefit us in our day to day lives.

       When I read this article my first thought was this: this is a long paper with a lot of complicated terms. But as I started to dig into the paper, I realized that aside from terms like SIgA, NK, and Cytotoxicity, the core of this paper was very informational. When I began thinking about the ideas and research expressed in this article, it made me begin to wonder how this information could affect my life and the life of those around me. As I stated in the beginning of this entry, many people (myself included), take laughing for granted. But after reading this article, I saw that there are many benefits of laughter that I'm sure most of us aren't aware of. So although I still have no idea what SIgA is, and I would have to dive deep into the depths of a dictionary to define Cytotoxicity, laughter is something we can all share, and whether we know the health benefits of humor or not, spreading positivity and joy is something that makes everyone feel better.