Reaction to Terrill Swift

On the 14th our class had a guest speaker names Terill Swift visit us, and he spoke to us about wrongful convictions. Mr. Swift was wrongfully convicted for the rape and murder of a Chicago woman. He spent over 15 years in prison, and he had to spend several more years on parole, and in and out of prison before he was finally exonarated by the state. He was arrested as a 17 year old when police brought him in for questioning. Mr. Swift orignially thought that he was being accused of hiding someone out, which he was not, but thats what the police had told him and his mother. He was then interrogated and verbally and mentally abused by the police. Then the police told him that if he signed a document he would be free to go home. Mr. Swift signed it, but what he had actually signed was a confession to the rape and murder of this woman.Three more teenagers were convicted for the same crime. While he was in prison Mr. Swift worked towards proving his innocence and with the help of NorthWestern University he eventually succeeded.

I was shocked by his story. I couldn't believe that the police would stoop so low, to the point where they would arrest an innocent teenager with no criminal history. I admire how Mr. Swift has made it his goal to educate youth, and the rest of the society about wrongful convictions, instead of being bitter about it, which he has every reason to be, but he wants to make sure that nothing like this happens to someone else. I hope that those police officers who were invoved are punished, and that Mr. Swift recieves some sort of compensation for what he went through, because the actions of those officers was inexcusable. For a time I was considering a career in law enforcement, but I decided to go into another direction. I hope that by educating the youth about wrongful convictions that Mr. Swift can make an impression on the future authorities so they won't do anything like this.