Wrongful Convictions 101
Is the criminal justice system really such a mess that it results in wrongful convictions regularly?
The answer to the question is “yes,” which accounts for this new offering on True/Slant.
When I started my career as an investigative journalist in 1969, I frequently wrote about police and prosecutors–as well as those they arrest and charge with crimes. Although already a maverick about most aspects of American politics, I tended to trust police and prosecutors to do the right thing. When those in jail awaiting trial and those in prison for long stretches would proclaim innocence, I failed to listen carefully. Sadly, I adopted the conventional wisdom that all inmates claim to be innocent.
It took me a long time to learn otherwise. Until the advent of reliable DNA testing starting in the late 1980s, I lacked valid, reliable proof that wrongful convictions occur with regularity. When I slowly but surely learned how mistaken I had been, I vowed to report and write about the criminal justice system in new ways.
If you honor me by reading what I write at True/Slant, you will learn about individual cases of wrongful conviction. Hundreds have been exposed by lawyers, private investigators and journalists; it is certain that hundreds, maybe thousands, more cases remain to be exposed.
You will also learn about systemic problems–rushes to judgment by police and prosecutors, mistaken eyewitness identification, lousy work in law enforcement crime laboratories, lying jailhouse snitches, false confessions coerced from suspects or offered voluntarily by the mentally ill, racism, gutless judges, gullible jurors, and much more.
Wrongful convictions diminish everybody by fraying faith in the criminal justice system. Wrongful convictions also mean that the actual perpetrators might be free to murder, rape or rob again.
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I’m wondering how to get involved in fixing the situation for people who aren’t lawyers themselves.
I will address citizen participation by non-lawyers in future posts. For now, here are some ideas: If possible, use the local newspaper, local broadcast news and local Web sites to learn about arrests by police and charges filed by prosecutors based on those arrests. If a case interests you, especially if it sounds shaky, contact the defendant or the defendant’s lawyer. Ask if actual innocence comes into play. If it is difficult to track arrests and the filing of charges, start with local defense lawyers–those in private practice and in the public defender office–to find out whether they are representing men and women who might be actually innocent.
Thanks for continuing to spread the word about this important issue.
Receiving a thumbs up from Martin Yant is a singular honor. He started writing newspaper investigations, magazine pieces and books about wrongful convictions years before I and lots of other journalists finally understood the implications of the criminal justice system’s shortcomings.
In response to another comment. See in context »Steve, the courthouse for my district of the county is 3/4 of a mile away. I’m hoping to get some ideas from you on how I could be involved, and who to talk to about this issue.
Steve, I’m glad I found your site. I to was nieve to the justice system until I saw what happened to my brother. Not only did two women set him up for a crime he didn’t commit, they also committed several felony crimes after the fact. We had to do our own investigation and they refuse to prosecute them. I could write about all they have done, but it will take over your site. We have allot of the evidence posted on his site at: http://americaswrongfullyconvicted.com/robert_mcclendon.htm
Some of the new evidence is not posted at this time because we have a legal surprise for them.
Our home site is: http://www.americaswrongfullyconvicted.com
I will examine the material you linked to. Please understand that I’m already committed to investigations on more cases than I can handle, and all of them are in Missouri on behalf of the Midwestern Innocence Project which I helped form.
In response to another comment. See in context »