The Causes of Wrongful Conviction
As the pace of DNA
exonerations has grown across the country in recent years, wrongful
convictions have revealed disturbing fissures and trends in our
criminal justice system. Together, these cases show us how the
criminal justice system is broken – and how urgently it needs to be
fixed.
We should learn from the system’s failures. In each case where DNA
has proven innocence beyond doubt, an overlapping array of causes of
has emerged – from mistakes to misconduct to factors of race and
class.
Countless cases
Those exonerated by DNA testing aren’t the only people who have been
wrongfully convicted in recent decades. For every case that involves
DNA, there are thousands that do not.
Only a fraction of criminal cases involve biological evidence that
can be subjected to DNA testing, and even when such evidence exists,
it is often lost or destroyed after a conviction. Since they don’t
have access to a definitive test like DNA, many wrongfully convicted
people have a slim chance of ever proving their innocence.
Common
Causes
Here you will find further information about seven of the most
common causes of wrongful convictions:
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Eyewitness Misidentification
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Unreliable or Limited Science
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False Confessions
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Government Misconduct
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Informants or Snitches
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Bad Lawyering
These factors are
not the only causes of wrongful conviction. Each case is unique and
many include a combination of the above issues. Review our case
profiles to learn how the common causes of wrongful convictions have
affected real cases and how these injustices could have been
prevented.
To stop these wrongful convictions from continuing, we must fix the
criminal justice system. Click here to learn about Innocence
Commissions, a reform that can help identify and address the
fundamental flaws in the criminal justice system that lead to
wrongful convictions.
With our sincere appreciation to the Innocence Project - http://www.innocenceproject.org