Post-Conviction DNA Testing and Wrongful Conviction - Scholar's Choice Edition

Post-Conviction DNA Testing and Wrongful Conviction - Scholar's Choice Edition
Author: John Roman
Publisher: Scholar's Choice
Total Pages: 74
Release: 2015-02-16
Genre:
ISBN: 9781296044398

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution

Wrongful Convictions and the DNA Revolution
Author: Daniel S. Medwed
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2017-03-30
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108138675

For centuries, most people believed the criminal justice system worked - that only guilty defendants were convicted. DNA technology shattered that belief. DNA has now freed more than three hundred innocent prisoners in the United States. This book examines the lessons learned from twenty-five years of DNA exonerations and identifies lingering challenges. By studying the dataset of DNA exonerations, we know that precise factors lead to wrongful convictions. These include eyewitness misidentifications, false confessions, dishonest informants, poor defense lawyering, weak forensic evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. In Part I, scholars discuss the efforts of the Innocence Movement over the past quarter century to expose the phenomenon of wrongful convictions and to implement lasting reforms. In Part II, another set of researchers looks ahead and evaluates what still needs to be done to realize the ideal of a more accurate system.

WRONGFUL CONVICTION

WRONGFUL CONVICTION
Author: John A. Humphrey
Publisher: Charles C Thomas Publisher
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2018-01-04
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0398092060

The magnitude of wrongful conviction is increasing across the country and around the world, with individuals arrested, convicted, and incarcerated for extended periods of time. This book provides an understanding of legal remedies, organizational reforms, and policy changes that have been proposed and implemented. In various jurisdictions, these procedures reduce the likelihood of a wrongful conviction. Legal and organizational reforms and changes in criminal justice policy are considered at three key junctures of the process: (1) the investigation, evidence gathering, and forensic analysis, (2) prosecutorial decision-making, and (3) the judicial review and exoneration of a wrongfully convicted defendant. Each chapter opens with a wrongful case vignette that illustrates the reform strategies being considered. The investigatory process is studied on each case, and the police process is analyzed in detail. Part 1 includes the introductory chapter that provides an overview of wrongful convictions, and the investigatory process routinely employed to gather evidence and identify a suspect. The analysis of forensic evidence is explored, including the chain of custody, contamination of the evidence, misinterpretation, and the falsification of forensic reports. Part 2 focuses on the prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and juries. Plea bargaining strategies, coaching witnesses, violations of the rules of discovery, use of jailhouse snitches, inadequate defense counseling, lack of preparation and adequate resources are examined. Part 3 analyzes the processes involved in the reversal of wrongful convictions, the judicial review, and obstacles encountered in the exoneration process. In addition, the authors provide a thorough analytical overview of the criminal justice processes involved in wrongful conviction and the reforms that are needed to prevent and reverse injustices. This book is an invaluable resource for prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, advocates for the wrongfully convicted, criminal justice policymakers, law and society, and will contribute to academic courses in the fields of criminology and justice.

American Justice in the Age of Innocence

American Justice in the Age of Innocence
Author: Hillary K. Valderrama
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2011-07-27
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1462014097

The exoneration of more than two hundred and fifty people who have been wrongfully convicted makes it clear that Americas criminal justice system isnt foolproof. Its important to understand the causes of wrongful conviction in order to find solutions to this growing problem. Edited by one of the nations leading legal scholars and two of her top students, this collection of essays examines critical issues, including what American justice in the age of innocence looks like; how to implement procedural mechanisms to ensure the integrity of the judicial system while safeguarding the public; whether or not the legal system is doing a good enough job uncovering wrongful convictions. This anthology provides insightful lessons based on cutting-edge research and legal analysis. Wrongful convictions are not a foregone conclusion, but the justice system must break free from a pattern of punishing innocent people and go after the true culprits. Written for judges, lawyers and scholars alike, American Justice in the Age of Innocence educates the public and helps current prisoners who are innocent contest their wrongful convictions.

Postconviction DNA Testing

Postconviction DNA Testing
Author: National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence (National Institute of Justice)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 117
Release: 1999
Genre: Criminal investigation
ISBN:

"A report from National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence"--Cover.

Post-conviction DNA Testing

Post-conviction DNA Testing
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary
Publisher:
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2001
Genre: Criminal investigation
ISBN:

Miscarriages of Justice

Miscarriages of Justice
Author: Brent E. Turvey
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2014-05-19
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0124095283

Miscarriages of justice are a regular occurrence in the criminal justice system, which is characterized by government agencies that are understaffed, underfunded, and undertrained across the board. We know this because, every week, DNA testing and innocence projects across the United States help to identify and eventually overturn wrongful convictions. As a result, the exonerated go free and the stage is set for addressing criminal and civil liability. Criminal justice students and professionals therefore have a need to be made aware of the miscarriage problem as a threshold issue. They need to know what a miscarriage of justice looks like, how to recognize it's many forms, and what their duty of care might be in terms of prevention. They also need to appreciate that identifying miscarriages, and ensuring legal remedy, is an important function of the system that must be honored by all criminal justice professionals. The purpose of this textbook is to move beyond the law review, casebook, and true crime publications that comprise the majority of miscarriage literature. While informative, they are not designed for teaching students in a classroom setting. This text is written for use at the undergraduate level in journalism, sociology, criminology and criminal justice programs - to introduce college students to the miscarriage phenomenon in a structured fashion. The language is more broadly accessible than can be found in legal texts, and the coverage is multidisciplinary. Miscarriages of Justice: Actual Innocence, Forensic Evidence, and the Law focuses on the variety of miscarriages issues in the United States legal system. Written by leaders in the field, it is particularly valuable to forensic scientists and attorneys evaluating evidence or preparing for trial or appeal in cases where faulty evidence features prominently. It is also of value to those interested in developing arguments for miscarriage in post-conviction review of criminal cases. Chapters focus specifically on issues of law enforcement bias and corruption; false confessions; ineffective counsel and prosecutorial misconduct; forensic fraud; and more. The book closes by examining innocence projects and commissions, and civil remedies for the wrongfully convicted. This text ultimately presents the issue of miscarriages as a systemic and multi-disciplinary criminal justice issue. It provides perspectives from within the professional CJ community, and it serves as warning to future professionals about the dangers and consequences of apathy, incompetence, and neglect. Consequently, it can be used by any CJ educator to introduce any group of CJ students to the problem. Written by practicing criminal justice professionals in plain language for undergraduate students Covers multiple perspectives across the criminal justice system Informed by experience working for Innocence Projects across the United States to achieve successful exonerations Topical case examples to facilitate teaching and learning Companion website featuring Discussion topics, Exam questions and PowerPoint slides: http://textbooks.elsevier.com/web/Manuals.aspx?isbn=9780124115583

The Innocence Commission

The Innocence Commission
Author: Jon B. Gould
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2009-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814732267

Beyond Exonerating the Innocent: Author on WAMU Radio Convicted Yet Innocent: The Legal Times Review Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008 DNA testing and advances in forensic science have shaken the foundations of the U.S. criminal justice system. One of the most visible results is the exoneration of inmates who were wrongly convicted and incarcerated, many of them sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. This has caused a quandary for many states: how can claims of innocence be properly investigated and how can innocent inmates be reliably distinguished from the guilty? In answer, some states have created “innocence commissions” to establish policies and provide legal assistance to the improperly imprisoned. The Innocence Commission describes the creation and first years of the Innocence Commission for Virginia (ICVA), the second innocence commission in the nation and the first to conduct a systematic inquiry into all cases of wrongful conviction. Written by Jon B. Gould, the Chair of the ICVA, who is a professor of justice studies and an attorney, the author focuses on twelve wrongful conviction cases to show how and why wrongful convictions occur, what steps legal and state advocates took to investigate the convictions, how these prisoners were ultimately freed, and what lessons can be learned from their experiences. Gould recounts how a small band of attorneys and other advocates — in Virginia and around the country — have fought wrongful convictions in court, advanced the subject of wrongful convictions in the media, and sought to remedy the issue of wrongful convictions in the political arena. He makes a strong case for the need for Innocence Commissions in every state, showing that not only do Innocence Commissions help to identify weaknesses in the criminal justice system and offer workable improvements, but also protect society by helping to ensure that actual perpetrators are expeditiously identified, arrested, and brought to trial. Everyone has an interest in preventing wrongful convictions, from police officers and prosecutors, who seek the latest and best investigative techniques, to taxpayers, who want an efficient criminal justice system, to suspects who are erroneously pursued and sometimes convicted. Free of legal jargon and written for a general audience, The Innocence Commission is instructive, informative, and highly compelling reading.

Post-Conviction DNA Testing and the Emergence of a Fundamental Constitutional Right

Post-Conviction DNA Testing and the Emergence of a Fundamental Constitutional Right
Author: Jay D. Aronson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre:
ISBN:

The American criminal justice system is designed to ensure that innocent men and women are not wrongfully convicted for crimes that they did not commit. Despite numerous safeguards, defense lawyers and civil liberties advocates have been arguing for years that the legal system is fundamentally unfair and unjust. Because of power and resource imbalances, the argument goes, federal and state prosecutors routinely win convictions against individuals who did not commit the crimes for which they were on trial. As a result, thousands of actually innocent people are languishing in prisons and death rows around the country. In the past, such claims were difficult to prove, primarily because of the degradation of evidence, both physical and eyewitness, and the fundamental belief in the correctness of legal decision-making. However, forensic DNA analysis is increasingly being used in post-conviction litigation to prove that innocent people have been wrongfully incarcerated. Yet the decisions of our criminal courts are considered to be final unless a defendant's constitutional rights were violated at trial. That belief is so strong that, in the landmark 1993 case of Herrera v. Collins, the Supreme Court ruled that even the "actual innocence" of prisoner was not sufficient to necessitate the reversal of a conviction. Rather, it could only serve as the "gateway though which a habeas petitioner must pass to have his otherwise barred constitutional claim considered on the merits." This requirement has raised significant legal challenges for defense lawyers hoping to use DNA test results to vacate the convictions of their clients. Consequently, many defense lawyers have called for the creation of a fundamental constitutional right to post-conviction testing, thus over-riding the balancing and utility tests that prosecutors and courts use to deny access to biological evidence. This demand is based on the claim that DNA evidence has the power to provide "cast iron scientific proof" that our system convicts and sentences innocent people on a regular basis. These legal arguments have raised fundamental questions about the constitutional implications of technological change. If a constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing is eventually recognized, then legal procedure will lose some of its status as the legitimator of legal finality to the authority of science and technology. Indeed, it is precisely for this reason that the issue has been so contested within the judicial community. While some judges have been eager to modify existing legal procedure based on the authority of DNA evidence, others have sought to defend the sanctity of procedure in law from incursions by alternative sources of finality. At stake is the means by which our legal system guarantees justice and social order.