NCJ Number
214239
Date Published
2006
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents the findings and recommendations of research and public inquiries in Great Britain, the United States, and Canada regarding reasons for miscarriages of justice and how they can be reduced.
Abstract
Official reviews that have examined the causes of miscarriages of justice have produced similar recommendations. They include improving protocols for eyewitness identification, requiring audio or videotaped records of witness statements and the custodial questioning of suspects, ensuring that prosecutors have full access to police investigation records, and enacting laws that require the prosecution to provide full disclosure of all material evidence to the defense. Other recommendations are to establish some form of tribunal to investigate miscarriages of justice and the appointment of civilian oversight bodies. This chapter advises, however, that all of these recommendations will have only limited effect without a simultaneous investment in the training and education of investigators and interviewers in order to change an investigative culture that has given priority to confession evidence. Factors found to contribute to miscarriages of justice are incompetent forensic science analysis, the abuse or misuse of informants, the manipulation of witnesses to refute alibi evidence, the misuse of offender profiling techniques, poor interviewing skills when dealing with witnesses and suspects, fabrication of evidence, attorney misconduct, and the psychological vulnerability of many suspects. Other factors that contribute to the conviction of innocent persons are the unprofessional relationship between corrupt police officers and unethical attorneys, as well as a "cop culture" willing to do whatever it takes to produce the "evidence" needed to convict a targeted suspect they presume to be guilty. 8 notes and 38 references