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International Academic Journal of Law ISSN Print: 2709-9482 | ISSN Online: 2709-9490 Frequency: Bi-Monthly Language: English Origin: Kenya Website: https://www.iarconsortium.org/journal-info/iajl Re s e arch Article The Four Forerunners for Law: Biasing, Alibiing and Backtracking Then a Narrative as Exemplified Solutions to Judiciary Processes and Others Article History Abstract: No one is above the law. There are suspects and victims. Sometimes one is a suspect and a victim. Sometimes there is a fair share of loss. What do we deal Received: 09.04.2021 here? Is law impartial? Is it right to take law on our hands and on our side. There is Revision: 14.04.2021 no perfect crime. There is also no perfect court and people. Time and resources Accepted: 24.04.2021 could be limited. Three good factors are considered: bias, alibi an d backtrack. These Published: 30.04.2021 words are defined in a relative or relational way. Narrative is also given importance. Revision to this is highly welcomed. Author Details Keywords: Alibi, Backtrack, Bias, Criminal Law, Judiciary Law Ismael Tabuñar Fortunado Authors Affiliations INTRODUCTION University of Santo Tomas, Manila, “Every juristic act essentially depends upon an expression of the will. It Philippines is in the meeting of the minds, unless the law implies a fictitious promise, Corresponding Author* that the obligation of valid contract finds its force.” (Stadden 1907) Ismael Tabuñar Fortunado How to Cite the Article A cognitive bias is a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or Ismael Tabuñar Fortunado (2021 The Four Forerunners for Law: Biasing, Alibiing and rationality in judgment (Haselton et al 2005). Individuals create their own Backtracking Then a Narrative as "subjective reality" from their perception of the input. An individual's Exemplified Solutions to Judiciary construction of reality, not the objective input, may dictate their behavior in Processes & Others. Int Aca. J Law; 2(2) the world. Thus, cognitive biases may sometimes lead to perceptual (Mar-Apr, 2021): 10-13 distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly Copyright @ 2020: This is an open-access called irrationality. (Kahneman and Tversky 1972, Baron J 2007 and Ariely article distributed under the terms of the 2008) Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non Bias n. the predisposition of a judge, arbitrator, prospective juror, or anyone commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY- making a judicial decision, against or in favor of one of the parties or a class NC) provided the original author and source of persons. This can be shown by remarks, decisions contrary to fact, reason are credited. or law, or other unfair conduct. Bias can be toward an ethnic group, homosexuals, women or men, defendants or plaintiffs, large corporations, or local parties. Getting a "hometown" decision is a form of bias which is the bane of the out-of-town lawyer. There is also the subtle bias of some male judges in favor of pretty women. Obvious bias is a ground for reversal on appeal, but it is hard to prove, since judges are usually careful to display apparent fairness in their comments. The possibility of juror bias is explored in questioning at the beginning of trial in a questioning process called voir dire. (Anonymous 2021a) Definition of Terms Backtracking is a general algorithm for finding all (or some) solutions to some computational problems, notably constraint satisfaction problems, that incrementally builds candidates to the solutions, and abandons a candidate ("backtracks") as soon as it determines that the candidate cannot possibly be completed to a valid solution. (Gurari 1999) Albi 1. The plea of having been at the time of the commission of an act elsewhere than at the place of commission also : the fact or state of having been elsewhere at the time 2. An excuse usually intended to avert blame or punishment (as for failure or negligence) 3. Someone or something that provides a person with an alibi (Anonymous 2021b) Available Online: https://iarconsortium.org/journal-info/iajl 10 Ismael Tabuñar Fortunado; Vol-2: Iss- 2 Mar-Apr, (2021): 10-13 Bias is a disproportionate weight in favor 2. There may be some coercion as evidenced of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that psychological or physical in some ways. is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be A miscarriage of justice, also known as a wrongful conviction, occurs when a person is convicted and innate or learned. People may develop biases for or punished for a crime that they did not commit. (Garner against an individual, a group, or a belief. (Steinbock 2009) False confessions by psychologically vulnerable 1978) In science and engineering, a bias is a systematic defendants are one of the main causes of wrongful error. Statistical bias results from an unfair sampling of convictions, sometimes exacerbated by coercive police a population, or from an estimation process that does interrogations. Police misconduct also contributes to not give accurate results on average. (Welsh and Begg miscarriages of justice. The Innocence Project keeps 2016) statistics on cases where convicted defendants have subsequently been exonerated, usually by advances in the science of DNA. However, the prevalence of such Narrative miscarriages is hard to measure because many wrongful A story or a description of a series of events convictions are never overturned. (Anonymous 2021c) A spoken or written account of connected events; a The term also applies to cases where a guilty person story. (Anonymous 2021d) goes free, sometimes known as "errors of impunity". Most criminal justice systems have some means to Analysis overturn or quash a wrongful conviction, but this is Backtracking often difficult to achieve. In some instances a wrongful Construction of solution may be time and resource conviction is not overturned for several decades, or consuming. Some may fall short. What is expected is until after the innocent person has been executed, support. Ample documentation, utmost leniency yet released from custody, or has died. diligent approaches should be used. Past, Present and future analysis must be observed. (Fortunado 2020) 3. There is framing-up and also counter framing- up strategies and setup. Each step should be A person’s mind could be made up already. He examined. could might as well ask for forgiveness for his misdeed In the United States criminal law, a frame-up or it may be just an accident. It is another sin if he does (frameup) or setup is the act of framing someone, that not admit he is guilty. We must take responsibility of is, providing false evidence or false testimony in order our actions. to falsely prove someone guilty of a crime. While incriminating those who are innocent 1. We must carefully recognize that an event might be done out of sheer malice, framing is primarily happened and the crisis happened. used as a distraction. Generally, the person who is 2. There is a motive or intent in an action. framing someone else is the actual perpetrator of the 3. There is misjudgment or accident in an action. crime. In other cases it is an attempt by law 4. There is negligence in an action. enforcement to get around due process. Motives include 5. There is non acceptance of an action. getting rid of political dissidents or "correcting" what they see as the court's mistake. Some lawbreakers will Note: These five are the elements to be considered in a try to claim they were framed as a defense strategy. backtrack. A backtrack could answer one or any of (Wikipedia 2021) these. Addition to and further evaluation of these is greatly welcomed. 4. Sometimes there are motives which may lead to the harm of innocent people. Alibiing Note: These four are the elements to be considered in We must also check carefully the alibi. Perhaps it is an alibi. An alibi could answer one or any of these. not true, true or it may hide true intentions and details. Addition to and further evaluation of these is greatly welcomed. 1. Error in Decision must be reexamined. What are "grounds" for an appeal? Biasing A “ground” is a legal term that means the reason Epicurean Paradox may question God and yet prove for the appeal. You cannot appeal a court decision the existence of evil. One of the Responses is the test of simply because you are unhappy with the outcome; you character. (Fortunado & Eballo 2018) People do the must have a legal ground to file the appeal. If the judge same, test the character. in your case made a mistake or abused his/her discretion, then you might have grounds to file an Note: Some may disagree doing these things. appeal. Available Online: https://iarconsortium.org/journal-info/iajl 11 Ismael Tabuñar Fortunado; Vol-2: Iss- 2 Mar-Apr, (2021): 10-13 We are there to challenge the person, the activity Note: These three are the elements to be considered in a and the remorse or not. Test could be employed such as bias. A bias could answer one or any of these. Addition questioning and the dark triad test as an example. to and further evaluation of these is greatly welcomed. Being biased should be avoided. There is pun here. Narrative What is permitted is to question and act to what could Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came have been. What is permitted is to show consideration to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one to the parties involved. city, one rich and the other poor. “The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the Where no other witnesses are there poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which The Judgement of Solomon is a story from he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon of with him and with his children.