Brian Banks’ juvenile case is significant for investigation practice and court procedures. The false accusation of Brian’s friend, a teenager, has put him into prison and thwarted his dreams of becoming a professional footballer (Speak For Yourself, 2019). The case of Brian Banks may have added to eliminating prejudices in the court and awakened authorities about issues in the treatment of juveniles while interrogations.
The case is not a minor example of sentencing an innocent person to years of imprisonment and custody. According to new research from Haney-Caron et al. (2018), “younger juveniles reported significantly greater false confession propensity than did adults” (p. 1955). The measure that police and court officers should foster is adopting a verifying model for victims’ claims, based not only on a one-sided report but also on the defenders’ evidence. Brian Banks’s situation received ample attention from the media, thus making the problem of false convictions public and disputed. Therefore, the case has attracted the workers of juridical institutions and may cause eventual changes in the interrogation process.
Apart from this point, racial inequalities in the US court have added to the mishap. Namely, the existing stereotype of a black man inclined to rape women, primarily white, may have beguiled the jury into such an unfair sentence (Perry, 2021). As a result, the case has been one of the multiple similar injustices towards the Black that accumulated and produced the powerful Black Lives Matter movement. Finally, Brian Banks’ misfortune indirectly led to a campaign against disparities that can alter the current court practice.
To conclude, the fate of the falsely tried man may be the ground for future improvements in the court system. Juvenile cases often result in wrong convictions because of minors lying during the interrogation. Additionally, race issues cause misjudgment in the matters related to rape among both the young and adults. Brian Banks’ example affected the police and court indirectly by appending to numerous comparable cases and making it a public concern.
References
Haney-Caron, E., Goldstein, N. E. S., & Mesiarik, C. (2018). Self-Perceived likelihood of false confession: A comparison of Justice-Involved juveniles and adults. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 45(12), 1955–1976. Web.
Perry, L. (2021). From Brock Turner to Brian Banks: Protecting victims and preserving due process in the new area of Title IX. DePaul Journal for Social Justice, 14(2), 1–51. Web.
Speak For Yourself. (2019). Brian Banks discusses his story & the ’what ifs’ on NFL career. YouTube. Web.