 | More innocent people |
Exonerations are up exposing a justice system that doesn’t provide justice for the poor. The statistics of who gets convicted while innocent show stark differences by race. Children and people with mental disabilities are also treated unfairly.
Why? | There are several reasons. |
Poverty and Ineffective Defense Counsel: Poor people disproportionately get entangled in the criminal justice system and are convicted wrongfully. A huge cause of this is ineffective assistance of counsel perpetuated by the public defender system. Public defenders, attorneys who represent people who cannot afford to hire an attorney, suffer from huge, unmanageable caseloads, and are often chronically underfunded. They are often unable to conduct thorough investigations. The ABA recommends these lawyers take on a maximum of 150 cases per year. It is very common for public defenders to exceed that amount. Some take on as many as 600 cases per year.
The resources of the justice system are stacked against poor defendants. The failure of overworked lawyers to investigate, call witnesses or prepare for trial has led to convictions of innocent people. Shrinking funding and access to resources for public defenders and court-appointed attorneys is exacerbating the problem.
Faulty application of science: wrongful convictions can occur when forensic labs make testing errors, testify inaccurately or fabricate results.
DNA testing was developed from years of scientific research and was first used to prove a person’s innocence in a criminal trial in England in 1986. Richard Buckland was suspected of murdering two teenage girls. In one of the cases, Buckland had actually confessed. But, ultimately, DNA testing of evidence from each crime scene excluded Buckland—revealing that Buckland had falsely confessed.
Some other forensic techniques—such as hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons, firearm tool mark analysis and shoe print comparisons—have never been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation and are sometimes improperly conducted or inaccurately presented in testimony.
Unreliable eyewitnesses: eyewitness error is the greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, and occurs in 72% of convictions overturned through DNA testing. Despite extensive scientific research on better ways to conduct identification procedures and research demonstrating the prevalence of eyewitness error in wrongful conviction cases, police frequently still use old, unreliable identification procedures. While eyewitness testimony can be persuasive evidence before a judge or jury, research has proven that eyewitness identification is often unreliable. In case after case, DNA has proven what scientists already know—that eyewitness identification is frequently wrong.
Police and prosecutor misconduct: a record number of exonerations in 2018 involved dishonest government officials. Sometimes the people who are responsible for ensuring truth and justice—law enforcement officials and prosecutors—ignore their obligations and focus solely on convictions. The cases of wrongful convictions uncovered by DNA testing are filled with evidence of negligence, fraud or misconduct by prosecutors or police departments. DNA exonerations have exposed official misconduct at every level and stage of a criminal investigation.