NCJ Number
103155
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1986) Pages: 518-544
Date Published
1986
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Few problems can pose a greater threat to free, democratic societies than that of wrongful conviction -- the conviction of an innocent person.
Abstract
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 extent 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? (Author abstract)