CRJ 234 FINAL - wrongful convictions

man charged w/sexual assault, was inadequately defended and wrongfully convicted for decades before being exonerated by DNA evidence

Henry James

there is major pressure by media, law enforcement, and DA to

capture and convict

how do courts handle this pressure to convict?

scrutiny, prelims/grand juries

the cause of ~70% of wrongful convictions and ~93% of sexual assault ones

eyewitness id

eyewitness id is very convincing to juries but actually is

least reliable form of evidence

experts Gary Wells and Elizabeth Loftus say that

we are not good at processing details during and event and have bad memory after

example of man wrongly convicted bc of eyewitness id

ronald cotton

how to courts combat eyewitness id problems?

review police procedures, confidence statements, expert testimony, admit only reliable id

responsible for ~30% of wrongful convictions, happen bc of police interrogation techniques, mentally-challenged defendants, and miranda failures

false confessions

___ are more likely to confess or waive miranda

innocent

example of man wrongfully convicted bc of false confession:

earl washington jr

how do courts handle false confessions?

admit only recorded interrogations reviewed by experts, evaluate miranda waivers

problems @ trial that lead to wrongful convictions:

prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of defense counsel, snitches/informants

how do courts deal with these @ trial problems?

review brady motions, review snitches, jury instructions, general oversight

with forensic evidence, juries often suffer from

CSI-effecgt

forensic evidence that is not entirely reliable:

fingerprints, serology, odontology

gold-standard of forensic evidence today, very precise collection and chain of custody processes

DNA

____ is a DNA database that helps w/matches

CODIS

future of DNA evidence?

forensic genetic genealogy

how do courts deal w/ problems surrounding forensic evidence?

must have accompanying testimony, verified by experts, objective evaluation of methods, and independent testing

why do appeals not work for wrongful convictions?

appellate courts are reluctant to overturn convictions

how to fix system?

police practices, no prosecutor immunity, trial procedures, access to DNA, removal of death penalty