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"The term human error exists because it happens:" UNC IOP hosts talk on judicial ethics

IOP Event.jpg
IOP Fellows Seminar with Justice Bob Orr, Judge Carl Fox, and attorney Christine Mumma. Photo taken by Blythe Gulley and courtesy of Tanner Glenn.

Thursday night's Institute of Politics seminar focused on ethics in the criminal justice system, continuing this semester's series on ethical issues in society. 

Two million people are currently imprisoned in the United States. Various estimates project that anywhere from .027 to 4.1 percent of these two million people are wrongfully convicted. Thursday's talk attempted to highlight this fact.

For the past two semesters, the IOP has been hosting seminar series with guest speakers on specific topics in order to fulfill their goal of inciting a passion for politics in students. 

Robert Orr, one of this semester's IOP fellows, said it's important to inform the future politicians of America about the ethical issues which exist in the U.S. criminal justice system.

"Really what we're trying to do is stimulate interest among a broad variety of UNC students," Orr said. "There's no political test; you don't have to be liberal or conservative or have any particular party interest."

In order to achieve this goal, two speakers in the field of criminal justice were brought in to give their professional opinions about the issue: Judge Carl Fox and attorney Christine Mumma.

They both told personal stories of their experiences with ethical misconduct as well as cases they were involved in relating to wrongful incarceration. 

Mumma is the executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, a group that works to represent those wrongly convicted and incarcerated for crimes. She said her group looks to help people lost in the chaos of the criminal justice system.

“Everybody’s done their part with the hope that justice has been served, but our court systems are underfunded, overloaded and full of humans,” Mumma said. “The term human error exists because it happens. When someone is convicted, it’s very difficult to go back and revisit that conviction.”

Fox, the other speaker, is a senior resident superior court judge for the 15B Judicial District of the Third Division of the Superior Court. He was the first African-American district attorney in North Carolina. 

Fox focused his portion of the seminar largely on the unethical political corruption which occurs in the justice system that often influences wrongful conviction cases. He said that many people in positions of power often make decisions based on how it’s going to affect them personally as opposed to the defendant. 

Judge Fox ended his section with a message to students which urged them to make a difference in the future by seeking to employ the truth in whatever field they choose to go into. 

“It’s really nice to know that the people who are trying to make justice happen really care about it,” said sophomore Julia Kelly, who attended the talk. 

@jordynw6

university@dailytarheel.com

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