“But I Wasn’t There!”

Using the exoneree summaries in the Innocence Project and the documentation in the Innocence Record, we analyze the content of the alibis of those who have been wrongly convicted and exonerated with the use of DNA. Sixty-five percent of the 377 DNA exonerees had an alibi. Fifty-one percent reported that their alibi corroborators were friends and/or family members, while only about 10% presented physical evidence to support their alibi. Those with an alibi were significantly less likely to falsely confess than those without an alibi. Eyewitnesses were significantly more likely to be a contributing cause of conviction for those with an alibi than for those without an alibi, and 27% of the exonerees with an alibi had only eyewitness evidence to implicate them. Those that had an alibi were also more likely to claim that they had an inadequate defense than those that did not have an alibi. We conclude this paper with recommendations for reforms and future research.

Innocent in the Dark

Preservation of biological evidence can profoundly impact criminal justice as it can be essential to establish the innocence of a convicted person and thus make evident a miscarriage of justice. The paper provides information and insights regarding the State’s duty to preserve biological evidence in criminal justice, thus improving accessibility issues in the post-conviction review in Chile. In doing so, the paper looks beyond Chile’s borders and seeks to obtain lessons from the U.S. States’ preservation statutes. The research uses law comparison to assess and comprehend the appropriateness of Chilean regulation and then to identify areas for improvement in the criminal justice system.

Wrongful Conviction in Sexual Assault: Stranger Rape, Acquaintance Rape, and Intra-Familial Child Sexual Assaults

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Still Standing: Innocence work in England and Wales

This article examines the two categories that have evolved in the literature concerning Innocence Projects; the pedagogical value of innocence work and the problems with associating the term innocence with the English criminal justice process. This research draws upon a study undertaken in 2017 by the Innocence Project London (unpublished) and another in 2020. Both studies sought to understand the extent to which organisations are undertaking innocence work in England and Wales. This research is written from the perspective of the Directors of both the Innocence Project London and Manchester Innocence Project, and as a result, the projects are discussed at length in various sections. An effort has been made however, to discuss other organisations that undertake similar work in various parts of this article.

Learning Across Borders: An Introduction to the 2021 Innocence Network Conference Scholarship Panel Articles

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The 2021 WCLR Student Award Winners

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Language of Criminal Confessions

Confession evidence is powerfully persuasive, and yet many wrongful convictions involving false confessions have surfaced in recent years (Innocence Project, 2021; National Registry of Exonerations, 2021). Although police are trained to corroborate admissions of guilt, research shows that most false confessions contain accurate details and other content cues suggesting credibility as well as extrinsic evidence of guilt. Hence, a method is needed to help distinguish true and false confessions. In this study, we utilized a corpus-based approach to outline the linguistic features of two sets of confessions: those that are presumed true (n = 98) and those that have been proven false (n = 37). After analyzing the two corpora in LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) to identify significant categories, we created a logistic regression model that distinguished the two corpora based on three identified predictors: personal pronouns, impersonal pronouns, and conjunctions. In a first sample comprised of 25 statements per set, the model correctly categorized 37 out of 50 confessions (74%); in a second out-of-model sample, the predictors accurately classified 20 of 24 confessions (83.3%). A high frequency of impersonal pronouns was associated with confessions proven false, while a high frequency of conjunctions and personal pronouns were associated with confessions presumed to be true. Several patterns were observed in the corpora. In the latter set of confessions, for example, “I” was often followed by a lexical verb, a pattern less frequent in false confessions. Although these data are preliminary and not to be used for practical diagnostic purposes, the findings suggest that additional research is warranted.

A Critical Analysis of Post-Conviction Review in New South Wales, Australia

Wrongful convictions leave an indelible mark on society. They are a tangible demonstration that the criminal legal system has failed, and a poignant reminder that all human institutions are fallible. Robust post-conviction review mechanisms are essential to provide an opportunity for justice to be eventually achieved for those who are wrongfully convicted. Through a critical examination of the post-conviction review mechanisms in NSW, which includes determining the existence of independence, transparency and accountability in the system, some deficiencies will be identified and analysed. Drawing on insights from the author’s role as a lawyer for Kathleen Folbigg (a woman convicted in 2003 of the murder of three of her infant children, and the manslaughter of her first child), this article will outline some of the key problems with the current system of post-conviction review in NSW. It then critically compares the existing system with the United Kingdom Criminal Cases Review Commission (“UK CCRC”). The UK CCRC has been chosen because it is a pioneering model which is designed to identify and remedy wrongful convictions in an independent, transparent, and accountable way. The article concludes that a version similar to the UK CCRC should be implemented in NSW to achieve justice for those wrongfully convicted.

How Trauma May Magnify Risk of Involuntary and False Confessions Among Adolescents

Empirical research on police interrogation has identified both personal and situational factors that increase criminal suspects’ vulnerability to involuntary, unreliable, or false confessions. Although trauma exposure is a widely documented phenomenon known to affect adolescents’ perceptions, judgments, and behaviors in a wide array of contexts (especially stressful contexts), trauma history remains largely unexamined by interrogation researchers and virtually ignored by the courts when analyzing a confession. This article argues that trauma may operate as an additional personal risk factor for involuntary and false confessions among adolescents by generating both additive and interactive effects beyond youths’ general, developmentally-driven vulnerabilities in police interrogations. First, we briefly review adolescent trauma symptomatology, emphasizing the heterogeneity of adolescents’ responses to trauma. Next, using Leo and Drizin’s (2010) “Three Errors” framework of police-induced false confessions, we systematically apply clinical findings to each of the three police errors—misclassification, coercion, and contamination—to outline the psychological mechanisms through which adolescents with trauma histories may be at increased risk for making involuntary or unreliable statements to police. Finally, we offer considerations for interrogation research, clinical forensic practice, police practices, and courtroom procedures that could deepen our understanding of trauma’s role in the interrogation room, improve the integrity of investigative and adjudicatory processes, and ultimately promote justice for adolescent suspects with trauma exposure.

Panel Discussions - Autopsy of a Crime Lab

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