Terrill Swift

This Valentine's Day I saw Terrill Swift speak at my school. A member of the "Englewood Four," Swift was accused and arrested for rape and murder at age 17 in 1994. Swift left his home with the police, who purposefully mislead his relatives so that they would not be there at the station with him, so that he would be completley alone with them. They then interrogated, threatened, and frightened Swift into signing a confession (which he had believed to be a paper suggesting he was free to go after this outrageous detainment). Swift was sent to prison, even when DNA testing proved he had not been at the scene of the crime, he remained incarcerated. For years, Swift worked hard in prison to share his story and proclaim his innocence, and was just recently exonerated.

Terrill Swift was mislead, denied his rights, and abused by the justice system. He suffered in prison and his family suffered because the state made what it would call a mistake. This is unacceptable to me. The police officers who perpetuated this situation with their grievous misconduct were not penalized in any way. Swift was not compensated in any way. In short, the state stole years from this man's life, and without apology, thrust him back into a world that had changed drastically, and the culprits responsible were allowed to continue on as they had been. This disgusts me. The fact that the officers were not punished even slightly sends a horrendous message to the public: that this kind of thing is "O.K." In addition, the fact that neither an apology nor compensation was given to Swift is horrific. He was robbed, compensation of a drastic nature is due. Then the fact that clear,obvious, DNA evidence was ignored suggests serious flaws in judgment within the system.

I once held the American justice system in high esteem. Perhaps because of TV shows, glorifying the processes, perhaps because of media coverage and what I hear in school. But this testimony has shaken that confidence. What remains firm, however, is my respect for Swift, who has chosen to, having just been made completley free, dedicate his life to telling his story and repairing these glaring flaws within our system by educating youth.