The Criminology of Wrongful Conviction

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Leo
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Wrongful Conviction ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Cause Analysis ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Improve Accuracy ◽  
Current Article ◽  
To Come

This article reflects on the author’s 2005 article, “Rethinking the Study of Miscarriages of Justice,” which sought to describe what scholars empirically knew at that time about the phenomenon, causes, and consequences of wrongful convictions in America. The 2005 article argued that the study of wrongful convictions constituted a coherent academic field of study and set forth a vision for a more sophisticated, insightful, and generalizable criminology of wrongful conviction. In this current article, the author revisits the ideas first developed in “Rethinking the Study of Miscarriages of Justice” to evaluate what scholars have learned about wrongful convictions in the last decade, and what challenges lie ahead for developing a more robust criminology of wrongful conviction. The article concludes that there have been significant theoretical, methodological, and substantive advances in the last decade, but that a root cause analysis of wrongful convictions has yet to come to fruition and urges empirical scholars to begin to study other sources of error and inaccuracy in the criminal justice system. Scholars should develop a criminology of erroneous outcomes, not just of erroneous conviction. By studying both sets of outcomes, scholars can improve accuracy and reduce errors across the board.

scholarly journals The Narrow Road to Exoneration - the Incidence, Characteristics and Outcomes of Wrongful Conviction Claims in Sweden over a One-Year Period

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Sara Hellqvist
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Wrongful Conviction ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
The Road ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Narrow Road ◽  
One Year

One way of investigating the phenomenon of wrongful convictions is to study the road to exoneration. In some respects, the post-conviction review process lies at the heart of the wrongful conviction issue, since this is where alleged miscarriages of justice are either acknowledged or rejected. However, the number and characteristics of the criminal cases that pass through the Swedish post-conviction review process are unknown. Against this background, the overarching objective of the present article is to provide an empirical basis for an informed discussion of wrongful convictions. More specifically, this article examines wrongful conviction claims and the judicial outcomes of these claims over a one-year period. The findings are discussed in relation to the view that the operation of the post-conviction process may be understood as a means by which the legal system may preserve its legitimacy. It is also discussed why there is a need for more transparency in this particular part of the criminal justice system.

scholarly journals The David Eastman case: The use of inquiries to investigate miscarriages of justice in Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-65
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Wrongful Conviction ◽  
Australian Capital Territory ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Australian Capital ◽  
High Profile

The wrongful conviction of David Harold Eastman in the Australian Capital Territory represents one of Australia’s most recent and high-profile public failures of the criminal justice system and highlights the limits of the Australian legal system. Further, the Eastman case draws into question the use of inquiries into miscarriages of justice, particularly when an inquiry’s recommendations can be disregarded by governments (as it was in this instance). This article provides an overview of the Eastman case and critically evaluates how it sheds light on the use of inquiries as an avenue to investigate and correct wrongful convictions more broadly in Australia.

Does Australia Need a Specific Institution to Correct Wrongful Convictions?

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne Weathered
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Wrongful Conviction ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
International Context

In recent years, hundreds of people have been exonerated overseas after demonstrating that they were wrongly convicted of crimes for which they spent many years in prison, and these are only the ones uncovered to date. Australia has its own sampling of known wrongful convictions. England, Canada and the United States have introduced different mechanisms to address in some fashion, the facilitation of exonerations. This article considers the current situation for the wrongly convicted in Australia, placing it within this international context. This comparison will demonstrate that Australia has fallen behind these other common law countries by failing to deliver new mechanisms, establish new bodies or incorporate new avenues that would enable the correction of wrongful conviction to occur. Wrongful conviction must now be recognised as an unenviable but inevitable part of any criminal justice system and a problem that should not be tolerated. Australia's criminal justice system must meet the challenge to update its provisions rather than continue to proceed under provisions other countries have identified as failing to meet the needs of the wrongly convicted.

Comparing Plea Bargaining and Abbreviated Trial Procedures

2019 ◽  
pp. 702-727
Author(s):  
Gwladys Gilliéron
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
The U.S

This chapter compares U.S. plea bargaining with plea-bargaining-type procedures and penal orders in Continental Europe, with reference to Switzerland, Germany, and France. It first considers consensual criminal procedures across jurisdictions and why they exist, focusing on plea bargaining in the U.S. criminal justice system and abbreviated trial procedures in European civil law systems. It then examines the extent to which abbreviated trial procedures in civil law systems differ from plea bargaining in the U.S. system, the problems inherent in consensual criminal procedures, and the question of whether there are any solutions. In particular, it explains how plea bargaining and penal orders may lead to wrongful convictions. Finally, it discusses prospects for reform of plea bargaining in the United States and in civil law systems in Europe.

Guilty Until Proved Innocent: Wrongful Conviction and Public Policy

1986 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 518-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ronald Huff ◽  
Arye Rattner ◽  
Edward Sagarin ◽  
Donal E. J. MacNamara
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Innocent Person ◽  
Wrongful Conviction ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
The Subject

Few problems can pose a greater threat to free, democratic societies than that of wrongful conviction—the conviction of an innocent person. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to this problem, perhaps because of our understandable concern with the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system in combatting crime. Drawing on our own database of nearly 500 cases of wrongful conviction, our survey of criminal justice officials, and our review of extant literature on the subject, we address three major questions: (1) How frequent is wrongful conviction? (2) What are its major causes? and (3) What policy implications may be derived from this study?

scholarly journals Advocacy and the Innocent Client

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Caroline Erentzen ◽  
Regina Schuller ◽  
Kimberley Clow
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Small Proportion ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Legal Aid ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Guilty Plea ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Defence Counsel ◽  
Systemic Problems

Much of our knowledge about wrongful convictions is derived from known exonerations, which typically involve serious violent offences and lengthy sentences. These represent only a small proportion of offences prosecuted in Canada each year, and little is known about how often innocent defendants may be wrongfully convicted of less serious offences. Recent discussions have begun to focus on the problem of false guilty pleas, in which defendants choose to  plead guilty to a lesser offence to avoid the time and cost required to defend their innocence. The majority of our knowledge of the factors contributing to wrongful convictions is based on American scholarship, with less empirical research exploring wrongful convictions within the Canadian context. The present research surveyed Canadian criminal defence lawyers about their experiences representing innocent clients, including their perspective on the underlying causes of wrongful convictions in Canada and their recommendations for reform to the criminal justice system. Nearly two-thirds of defence counsel in this study reported that they had represented at least one client who was convicted despite credible claims of innocence. Many reported that they regularly see innocent clients choose to enter a strategic false guilty plea, perceiving no meaningful or realistic alternative. Counsel described a system designed to elicit a guilty plea, with lengthy pre-trial delays, routine denial of bail, inadequate funding of Legal Aid, costly defence options, padded charges, and false evidence ploys. This research expands our knowledge of wrongful convictions in Canada, their hidden prevalence, and systemic problems that increase the likelihood of their occurrence.

scholarly journals De betrouwbaarheid van verklaringen van kinderen

Pedagogiek ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-248
Author(s):  
Henry Otgaar ◽  
Corine de Ruiter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Legal Decision ◽  
Legal Decision Making ◽  
Current Article

Abstract The reliability of children’s testimoniesChildren’s testimonies about abusive experiences can play a pivotal role in the criminal justice system. This is especially the case when other types of evidence (such as videos, technical traces) are absent. In such cases, it is imperative that children’s testimonies accurately reflect what they have experienced. In the current article, the reliability of children’s statements is discussed. We discuss what children can remember of traumatic incidents and elaborate on how children’s false memories can be relatively easily evoked. Furthermore, we discuss how children can best be interviewed using scientifically supported interview protocols. Children’s testimonies can be decisive in legal decision-making. Hence, it is of the utmost importance that these statements are reliable.

scholarly journals Wrongful Convictions and Erroneous Acquittals: Applying Packer’s Model to Examine Public Perceptions of Judicial Errors in Australia

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2110668
Author(s):  
Harley Williamson ◽  
Mai Sato ◽  
Rachel Dioso-Villa
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
Judicial Errors

The fallible nature of the criminal justice system continues to see judicial errors—that is, wrongful convictions and erroneous acquittals—undermine its integrity, efficacy, and legitimacy. Public perceptions of judicial errors are important contributors to criminal justice policy and reforms. The current study utilizes the 2016 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) dataset to examine public attitudes toward judicial errors. It applies Herbert Packer’s crime control and due process models to understand how concerns around procedural safeguards and public safety are associated with public perceptions toward judicial errors. Packer’s model has been challenged by studies, which theorize that the models are not mutually exclusive. Yet, they have not been empirically tested in this context, which is a gap this study seeks to fill. Findings show that due process and crime control concerns shape public attitudes toward wrongful convictions and challenge the notion that Packer’s models be applied on a continuum.

scholarly journals Threaten Sentencing Enhancement, Coerce Plea, (Wash, Rinse,) Repeat

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-302
Author(s):  
Wes Reber Porter
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Wrongful Convictions ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Clean Break ◽  
The Individual

Our American criminal justice system is too often described as broken. It was not a clean break in a single, isolated location. Instead, our criminal justice system suffers from many, many little nicks, bumps, and bruises at the hands of its keepers. The evolution of sentencing enhancements within our criminal justice system represents the latest nagging, reoccurring injury. In the ultimate Trojan horse to criminal defendants, the Supreme Court sought to protect the individual rights of the accused with its recent decisions on sentencing enhancements. But at the hands of lawmakers, the judiciary, and prosecutors, criminal defendants suffer more. Our criminal justice system also suffers from practices related to sentencing enhancements and the resulting wave of wrongful convictions by guilty plea.

Drug Court Through the Eyes of Participants

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 971-989
Author(s):  
Susan H. Witkin ◽  
Scott P. Hays
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Drug Court ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Drug Courts ◽  
Treatment Providers ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Criminal Behaviors

Operating with community support and through partnerships among treatment providers and the criminal justice system, drug courts address substance abuse as a root cause of criminal behaviors. Drug court success depends heavily on implementing the drug court model with fidelity and adhering to widely recognized best practices, in particular, following the “Ten Key Components” of drug court success. This study assesses drug court procedures and practices through the eyes of those who were actively participating in it. Focusing on five rural counties that had recently established drug courts, the study summarizes the results of interviews with 15 drug court participants. Importantly, this study is an evaluation of the operation of the drug courts themselves from the perspective of the participants of these drug courts rather than an evaluation of drug court participant impacts.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document