What factors are common to wrongful criminal convictions?

April 11, 2013

What factors are common to wrongful criminal convictions?

Article provided by Feeley & Sayegh LLC Attorneys At Law
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It sounds like a bad dream: a guilty sentence given to an innocent person. However, it does happen. If components of a criminal case are overlooked, this may leave room for error. With this in mind, it is extremely important to decipher what factors, specifically lead to mistakes in a criminal investigation and trial.

According to research from the Washington Institute for Public and International Affairs Research, 10 common factors are often detected in wrongful convictions. The goal of the research was to identify why people go to prison for offenses they did not commit.

The study

The researchers examined 460 flawed convictions and acquittals or dismissals of innocent suspects from 1980-2012. The research pointed to 10 factors that suggest when a wrongful conviction is more likely. A leader of the study explains that the only way to determine what causes a mistaken conviction is to comprehend which factors are exclusive to wrongful convictions in relation to other cases.

The factors identified by the scholars that are relevant or common to wrongful convictions include the following: lying (by non-eyewitnesses); the state's death penalty culture; the number of executions in a particular population; the strength of the defendant's case; the strength of the prosecution's case; evidentiary violations (pursuant to Brady v. Maryland); forensic errors; the defendant's age; the defendant's criminal history; intentional misidentifications; and the incorporation of family witnesses (testifying for the defendant). These were the most-common errors identified in the study, which could lead to an erroneous conviction. However, if diligence is lost anywhere in a criminal case, the suspect's outcome could be compromised.

What should the criminal justice system do to prevent such dispositive errors?

Thoroughness: To reduce the factors common to erroneous legal outcomes, legal experts recommend checklists by police officers, which help ensure that authorities are looking at all pieces of a case -- especially in the initial investigation stage. Furthermore, early forensic testing in a case and experienced training are also important.

Effective legal assistance: The most important piece may center on the issue of legal representation. There is no doubt -- all defendants need a thorough, competent attorney. Because there are so many participants in the criminal justice system, defendants require a professional who can help ensure that everything is in place and in accordance with the law.

If you are confronting serious criminal charges, make sure that your rights are protected. A knowledgeable criminal lawyer can help you do this.