Free «Criminal Law» Essay Paper

The police did have probable cause to arrest Ayers given their assertion that he had been positively identified from a photo lineup. Probable cause to arrest Ayers is also derived from the facts of the case in which it has been asserted that violence has been perpetrated in the committing of a crime making it pertinent to arrest the suspect identified in a lineup. On the other hand, it may be argued that probable cause was not satisfied given that the police depended only on the evidence of Ayers being identified by the woman as probable cause without taking into account any supporting evidence that could either be exculpatory or incriminatory.

On the other hand, I do believe the basis of the evidence possessed by the police and the circumstances of him being identified in a lineup made it important that Ayers be arrested. As the nature of the crime in that violence was involved, it was important for the police to arrest any person whom they believed was connected in any manner with the crime in order to prevent such a crime from recurring. The arrest ought to have been conducted but since the evidence against Ayers was based on only testimony of one person identifying him from a photo lineup the investigations ought to have continued with him being in custody to prevent possible reoccurrence of the crime.

From the human rights perspective, the rights of Ayers were violated given that there was scant evidence against him yet he was held in custody for nine days. I do believe the police ought to have obtained more evidence before conducting the arrest. Since Ayers has no record of criminal conviction or arrest it would have been important for the police to gather information on his criminal record and also regarding his employment status before making such an arrest. I would also have required the woman to ascertain that she would be able to point him out from a different lineup before making the arrest.