NCJ Number
225377
Date Published
2008
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This chapter argues that the organized child abuse cases shed light on some weaknesses of Western legal systems that render them vulnerable to wrongful conviction.
Abstract
The organized child sexual abuse cases demonstrate that the Anglo-American and European legal systems are vulnerable to claims-makers advancing new and untested claims against those identified as deviants in an atmosphere of urgency and danger. In addition, all participants in the court process are vulnerable to being swept up in the moral panic. Claims-makers come forward with claims of special expertise and offer their guidance to the criminal justice system. As a result, they may be allowed to go beyond the traditional scope of expert testimony and testify that a crime was committed by the defendant on trial. Moral panics are a useful tool for understanding how some situations are conducive to wrongful conviction. The theory of moral panic suggests a new avenue of inquiry into the subject of wrongful convictions, and the organized child abuse cases suggest that the incidence of wrongful convictions taking place in the system is not trivial. This chapter discusses moral panic theory and the moral panic about organized child abuse, and the role played by four contributing factors to wrongful conviction: overzealousness by police and prosecutors; false and coerced confessions and improper interrogations; forensic errors, incompetence, and fraud; and the adversary system itself, in the organized abuse cases. The organized abuse cases demonstrate the need for establishing criminal case review commissions, or “innocence commissions.” Notes, references, and cases cited