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In New Zealand in 1985, Mr Alan Hall was convicted of murdering Arthur Easton and spent more than 19 years in prison. He was finally acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2022. In 2019, Mr Hall was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are a number of aspects of Mr Hall's investigative interviews conducted prior to his conviction in 1985 – the questions posed to him and his responses to these – which could be interpreted as being evidence of evasiveness, remorse, lack of empathy and guilt by both the investigating interviewer and the jury and judge when the evidence from this interview was later presented in court. This article discusses how the police approach to interviewing and Alan Hall's ASD were the catalysts for a tainted investigation, prosecution and conviction. The Crown now accepts that a substantial miscarriage of justice occurred in Mr Hall's case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wrongful conviction statistics indicate that jurors will accept confession evidence even when it was coerced or contains inconsistent information. While research has considered the role of both inconsistencies and coercion in juror decisions about retracted confessions, little attention has been given to whether juror attitudes toward coerced confessions contribute to perception of suspect guilt. Using an experimental design, we manipulated the presence of inconsistencies and coercion in a fictional confession transcript. When presented with a coerced confession, low support for coercive interrogation techniques predicted lower belief in the suspect's guilt, unlike those with higher support for coercion who did not alter their verdicts. This indicates that the effect of coercion on perceived suspect guilt differs depending on the juror's individual attitude towards coercion. Inconsistencies in the confession similarly influenced judgements of guilt dependent on whether the person believed that confessions could be coerced from an innocent person. Implications are discussed further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the case of Victor Nealon and Sam Hallam, who had their convictions quashed after years in prison. They sought compensation under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, but their applications were refused. The European Court of Human Rights ultimately found that the test for compensation did not violate the presumption of innocence. The judgment closes off further challenges to the compensation scheme, making it difficult for wrongfully convicted individuals to receive compensation. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: To explore the psychopathology of the victims of the UK Post Office scandal and the extent to which this can be adequately described by current classification of traumatic stress symptoms. Design: Standard clinical interviews for the purposes of preparing medico-legal reports. Setting: Face to face and virtual interviews. Participants: Victims of the Post Office Scandal, postmaster's and postmistress's wrongly accused of theft. Main outcome measures: ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. Results: All the subjects had experienced life changing traumatic reactions which were inadequately captured by current diagnostic criteria. Conclusions: The current taxonomy of trauma fails to capture the diversity of symptoms experienced by the postmasters and we argue that a formulation based approach should be employed, especially in the court room. There remains inadequate research exploring the impact of wrongful conviction on the mental state of victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than two decades after Gregg v. Georgia (1976), use of the death penalty greatly expanded across the United States. Since 2000, however, it has declined significantly. Perhaps the most notable explanation for this decline is the contemporary focus on wrongful convictions. In this paper, we aim to contextualize the modern death penalty decline, and its connection with innocence, through the theoretical lens of social movements and collective action. We argue that dual opportunities reshaped the modern anti‐death penalty movement. First, the McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) ruling affirmed the federal courts' resistance to abolition and inspired activists to begin shifting toward state‐level political abolitionism. Activists then took advantage of the developing interest in wrongful convictions. Specifically, innocence‐related abolitionist activities in Illinois reinvigorated the anti‐death penalty movement, expanded the advocacy network, and fundamentally reframed the debate around capital punishment in the United States. We suggest that, collectively, these dual opportunities reshaped the anti‐death penalty movement into one that emphasized strategies reaching beyond constitutionality and propelled the movement into the twenty‐first century with a foundation for successful political abolitionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kathleen Folbigg spent 20 years in jail, wrongly convicted for smothering her four infant children. An unprecedented second judicial Inquiry found they died naturally. New genetic and psychiatric evidence unlocked the wrongful conviction, but it was always questionable. A Symposium held by the AAFS (Victorian Branch) detailed the timeline of the numerous events, then identified and discussed the issues. What were the failings and why were they missed? What part did expert witnesses, judges and lawyers play in this wrongful conviction? Did the prosecution appeal to misogyny? How did the first Inquiry get it so wrong? How did it fail to correctly understand the genetics? Was Ms Folbigg treated disrespectfully, and if so, what did that mean about fact finding? How did the failures of disclosure affect the original conviction and its various appeals? What explains the NSW Court of Appeal’s decision to reject an appeal based on jury misbehaviour during Ms Folbigg’s trial? Should we be more careful about the language we use in criminal trials? There was general agreement that the frailties of Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions were readily visible from the beginning. Will the criminal justice system learn the lessons that emerge from this case? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any wrongful conviction causes severe violations to the individual, their loved ones, the criminal justice system, and the validity of justice. While Anglo-American countries have focused on wrongful convictions since the 1930s, some Asian contexts have only considered these unjust errors within the scope of their legal approaches since the 2010s. To investigate this issue, this paper conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of the Scopus and Google Scholar databases, collecting 36 English peer-reviewed articles from 710 publications between 2010 and 2021. Our two primary goals include: 1) reviewing the scope and response of Asian countries to wrongful convictions and 2) identifying the main factors that led to these wrongful convictions. Findings indicate that almost all publications have focused on China and Japan as representatives of Eastern Asia. Very few studies discussed other Asian areas. Alongside five similarities with Western societies, such as 1) false confessions, 2) torture, 3) misconduct, 4) eyewitness identification errors, and 5) misused forensic science, political factors and criminal justice struggles reflect the unique issues underpinning Asia's wrongful convictions. Ultimately, our study calls for broader future research of a greater range of Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes use of James Scott's theory of 'hidden transcripts' to study cultural works and relevant writings that document the history of the carceral in Tunisia. It contends that prisoners found in songs and writings hidden transcripts to resist authoritarianism, to denounce the miscarriage of justice and to communicate with the outside world. Prisoner cultural works and writings show that the prisoner agency changed the carceral site into a secure social space to resist oppression and authoritarianism. Using Gaston Bachelard's conception of the house, we found that the prison cell had the value of a 'house' for memories, thoughts, imaginations and dreams. This paper concludes that prisoner songs and writings served as a counternarrative that helped in developing a different version of Tunisian modern history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part 1 of this study, the existing literature on eyewitness misidentification evidence as a cause of wrongful convictions, as well as adversarial safeguards upon which criminal justice systems rely to identify errors in fact-finding, are reviewed. In Part 2, a similar investigation is conducted of improperly applied and faulty forensic expert evidence in criminal trials in the comparator countries, and how such evidence contributes to legal and root causes of injustice. Parallels are drawn to the adversarial system as it functions in South Africa and predictions are offered regarding the possibility that in South Africa too, the reliance on questionable expert evidence and the sometimes over-reliance on valid expert evidence may lead to wrongful convictions. Worldwide, much effort has been invested in developing admissibility criteria for expert forensic evidence. In the United States of America, for example, more than 100 years of admissibility jurisprudence has been dedicated to developing admissibility standards that would filter out unreliable evidence. Yet our investigation reveals admissibility criteria have had less success than expected. We also investigate the abilities and inabilities of cross-examination and acquired defence expertise to reveal errors in forensic evidence. The article concludes with critical commentary on the way forward for the South African criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of this study is the main trends that have developed in judicial practice related to the assessment of the correctness of the interpretation of the norms of law by the court. The purpose of the study was to identify the main approaches used by law enforcement agencies, primarily courts, in assessing the possible existence of an error in the interpretation of the applied law by a lower court.General scientific and special methods of scientific cognition were used in the research. Among them are analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, the systematic method, the hermeneutical method and the legal-dogmatic approach. In particular, published court decisions were analyzed, scientific literature and current legislation were studied, after which conclusions were drawn about the state of law enforcement practice and the prevailing trends when considering by higher courts the issue of a possible error in the interpretation of the law committed by a lower court.The main content of the article is the results of the analysis of judicial practice, the purpose of which was to identify the main trends in judicial practice related to the assessment of the correctness of the interpretation of the norms of law by the court. The practice of applying the provisions of the procedural codes of the Russian Federation, providing for the consequences of a misinterpretation of the provisions of normative acts by the court, is considered. As a result of the conducted research, the main problems that courts face when assessing the correctness of the interpretation given by their colleagues from the lower court were identified. During the analysis, special attention was paid to such aspects as the causes of erroneous interpretation, ways to detect and eliminate the identified error, and the consequences of making an error.Based on the results obtained, conclusions were formulated, among which it is worth noting that judicial errors in the interpretation of normative acts are quite common. At the same time, procedural legislation regulates such situations in different ways in different types of legal proceedings. Having discovered a judicial error in interpretation, the higher court most often does not indicate specific norms that have been misinterpreted, but offers its own solution to the dispute. The errors of the courts in the qualification of those mistakes made by the lower courts were also noted.

The West Virginia University (WVU) Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system was built between 1971 and 1975 in Morgantown, West Virginia to be a prototype transportation system of the future. Envisioned as a hybrid of public and automotive transportation, the fully automated cars deliver passengers directly to their destinations without stopping at intervening stations. The PRT concept may be familiar to STS scholars through Latour's study of Aramis, a PRT in Paris that was never completed. This article recounts a history with the opposite ending: the successful realization of a PRT in West Virginia. Our account supplements existing ones, which explain the construction of the WVUPRT primarily as the product of geography and politics. While not denying these factors, we carve out an explanatory role for another influence: a public narrative about the dangers of hitchhiking and crimes that might ensue from that practice. In weaving together that narrative with the history of the WVUPRT, we show how public narratives of crime authorize technological infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to prevent tunnel vision and ultimately miscarriages of justice, police, prosecutors and judges must remain open to alternative scenarios in which the suspect is in fact innocent. However, it is not evident from the literature that people are sufficiently aware of how alternative scenarios should be employed in the decision making process. In the present research, 230 Dutch police officers read one of three versions of a case description. In the first version, there was strong evidence against the primary suspect. In the second version, the suspect additionally confessed, increasing the body of incriminating evidence. In the third version, the suspect confessed, but before deciding on their conviction, participants were instructed to consider how well each piece of evidence fitted in the primary but also in the alternative scenario (in which the crime was committed by an alternative suspect). Contrary to expectations, the confession did not increase conviction and the alternative‐scenario consideration did not suppress conviction. Implications of these null findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the flawed application of Missouri's wrongful conviction statute, specifically examining the Missouri Supreme Court's handling of State v. Johnson. Topics include the complexities of the statute's operation in capital cases, the challenges arising when a prosecutor files a motion after an execution date is set, and the analysis of the majority's reasoning and the dissent's arguments in the case.

This review focuses on empirical research about contemporary challenges to the death penalty in the United States. Challenges are factors that obstruct capital punishment, including legal or political restrictions; elimination at the federal or state level; or the hindrance of the process at its operational stages of charging, adjudicating, appeals, clemency, or executions. By the best-known measures, the death penalty has been in decline in the United States since the turn of the century. Lethal injection errors—"botches"—are arguably the most important current challenge to the institution. Wrongful capital conviction has made capital punishment less tolerable to the general public. Mitigation remains an important challenge to the death penalty. This review emphasizes botches, innocence, and mitigation but also touches on disparate impact, failure-to-deliver a social benefit, and cost. Along the way, this review proposes a framework for considering challenges as they occur on two continua of impact, a micro/meso/macro axis and a narrow/wide axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 30 years have seen a dramatic shift in investigative interview training in the United Kingdom (UK) as a result of miscarriages of justice cases featuring vulnerable suspects. In 2001, the UK Police adopted a five-tiered approach to investigative interviewing, with Tier 1 for new recruits through to Tier 5 for interview managers (IMs). The IM is responsible for overseeing strategic decisions with regard to the investigative interviewing process. Even though the role of an IM has been in existence for over twenty years, it is one of the most under-researched aspects of investigative interviewing. The aim of the current paper is to present an oversight of the role of an IM in UK policing using a self-report questionnaire, presenting the responses of 53 UK police IMs’ perceptions of their role in high-stakes crime investigations. Content analysis was carried out on the responses and revealed that IMs are most frequently deployed to murder investigations, followed by serious assaults, then sexual offences. However, not all of the respondents had received the pre-requisite training for the role. Nevertheless, the IMs broadly agreed that the senior investigating officer respected the advice provided by the IM, though without fully understanding what the role entailed. IMs unanimously said the role was crucial to high-stakes investigations and presented their perceptions of the skills, qualities and knowledge that IMs require to perform the role. Finally, future directions of research in this area are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia in its various forms causes progressive cognitive decline and associated behavioural changes. If a person with dementia commits a criminal offence, complex challenges can occur at all stages of the criminal justice process, including assessment of fitness to stand trial, determination of criminal responsibility if found to be fit and appropriate sentencing and placement if convicted. The timing and accuracy of a dementia diagnosis can impact legal outcomes and potentially lead to miscarriages of justice. This article analyses the intersection between dementia and criminal law, with a focus on sentencing. It is well established that an offender’s mental impairment or ill health may mitigate any sentence imposed, but dementia poses a significant dilemma for courts in determining moral culpability and appropriate sentencing options, particularly for serious crimes. The unique neurodegenerative nature of dementia makes it difficult to apply the traditional purposes of sentencing and raises the need for alternative solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been researched, written about, and subjected to public enquiry with respect to the content of Australian family law arrangements. This study adds to current understanding by the examination of the records of all successful appeals of parenting orders under the recently adopted regime of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Division 1 Appellate Jurisdiction. Drawing on transcripts from this Court to the date of writing, 35% of applications to appeal parenting orders were successful in being granted a rehearing or variation by the Appellate Jurisdiction. It is these cases which form the basis for this analysis. Employing an inductive thematic analysis, it has been possible to identify the pattern of circumstances most likely to lead to the compromise of the delivery of the declared principles of clear, predictable, and accessible law. Learning from the record of successful appeals, it becomes evident that the Appeals Court plays a relatively unappreciated critical role in identifying the context and nature of risks in the delivery of these core principles and what should be a central focus for attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the study of various approaches to understanding the phenomenon of a miscarriage of justice in administrative proceedings. The author establishes that a miscarriage of justice in administrative proceedings can be referred to in several senses. Firstly, a miscarriage of justice in administrative proceedings can be understood in a narrow sense, depending on the aspect specifically chosen (epistemological, praxeological and teleological) or their combination. The epistemological aspect of understanding a miscarriage of justice in administrative proceedings relates to the processes of mental and cognitive activity of a judge. Within this aspect, a miscarriage of justice is considered as a result of a defect in the subject matter of a judge's cognitive actions, which may be manifested in incorrect processing or interpretation of information. The praxeological aspect of understanding a miscarriage of justice in administrative proceedings focuses on the compliance of the judge's actions with the requirements and procedural rules set forth in the law. In this context, a miscarriage of justice is manifested as an unlawful act (action or inaction) of a judge, which consists in the judge's incorrect application of substantive law or violation of procedural law. The teleological aspect of understanding a miscarriage of justice relates to the purposes of administrative proceedings. Under this approach, a miscarriage of justice is defined as a result that does not meet the goals of administrative proceedings. The interconnection and interdependence of the epistemological, praxeological and teleological aspects forms a comprehensive understanding, a holistic perception of this phenomenon in administrative proceedings. This integration of different perspectives makes it possible to characterize a miscarriage of justice by providing a deep and multilevel understanding of its nature. In a broad sense, a miscarriage of justice in administrative proceedings can be understood as a judge's procedural activity related to the misperception, analysis or reproduction of legal norms, which is reflected in the adoption of a court decision that is unable to achieve the purpose of administrative proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the classification and types of miscarriages of justice by specific criteria. It is established that the classification of miscarriages of justice may be based on various features or properties, but preference is often given to those which are essential and fundamental in nature, which contributes to a more accurate understanding of the essence of miscarriages of justice, identification of their impact on justice and development of appropriate response measures. With the help of classification, complex and heterogeneous legal phenomena are organized and generalized into groups, classes, types, etc. Classification is an important technique for structuring knowledge and simplifying its further analysis and interpretation. In the course of this study, the author proposes the following classification of miscarriages of justice: 1) depending on the impact on the legal fate of a court decision: substantial; insubstantial; 2) depending on objective perception: obvious; not obvious; 3) depending on the functional affiliation of the applicable rules: substantive; procedural; 4) depending on the procedural response: detected; latent; 5) depending on the scope: complete; partial; 6) depending on the type: technical; substantive; 7) depending on the reason: subjective; objective; 8) depending on the stage of the jurisdictional process of application of law: errors made in establishing the factual circumstances of a case; errors made in the legal qualification of these factual circumstances; errors made in making decisions in a case; 9) depending on the recurrence and prevalence: typical; atypical. It is noted that although the above classification does not claim to be complete and requires further refinement, its application in practice may make it possible to timely identify and prevent the consequences of such errors. Understanding the essence of different types of miscarriages of justice is key to developing effective mechanisms for their Studying these errors helps to identify the causes of their occurrence and develop a strategy for their prevention and correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to address the deficiencies within the Jordanian legal framework on the withdrawal of final judicial decisions. The issue arises from the absence of provisions in the Jordanian Code of Civil Procedure regulating the concept of withdrawing a judicial decision, specifying its conditions, procedures, and the competent court for retracting a procedurally defective judicial decision for which the litigants are not responsible. Additionally, the law does not stipulate a legal timeframe within which a request to withdraw the judicial decision must be submitted, nor does it outline the legal consequences resulting from such a decision. By employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, to answer research questions: What are the criteria for withdrawing a final judicial decision under Jordanian legislation? What are the procedural mechanisms for such a withdrawal? Which types of errors justify the withdrawal of a final judicial decision—substantive errors or procedural ones? Does the Court of Cassation, which issued the final decision, possess the authority to withdraw its ruling proprio motu, or must the interested party submit a formal request? The study concludes with several key findings. Notably, the Jordanian Court of Cassation has established the foundational principles for the theory of withdrawing judicial decisions. It has outlined legal criteria for withdrawal, including the presence of a procedural error not caused by the parties but by the trial court, provided that such an error significantly impacts the resolution of the dispute. The Court has also imposed restrictions on the authority to withdraw a procedurally flawed decision, stipulating that corrections should address procedural defects without altering the substantive legal positions of the parties. If the court has adjudicated the dispute substantively, withdrawal is not permissible. The study recommends that the Jordanian legislature adopt provisions similar to those in Egyptian law, explicitly incorporating the principle of judicial decision withdrawal within the Jordanian Code of Civil Procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction of evidence relating to the now-discredited behavioural-science syndrome known as 'child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome' in R v Ellis demonstrates the danger of syndrome reasoning in judicial fact finding. Comparable syndrome evidence is still used in the Family Court in the form of 'parental alienation syndrome'. Ellis should sound the death knell for all forensic applications of unreliable syndrome reasoning in the courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduced in Australia in the late 1990s, the Mr Big investigative technique is a complex undercover police operation structured around a fictional criminal gang, which is created to build rapport with the suspect of a serious crime. The suspect is encouraged to confess to the crime to benefit from advantages and protection offered by the gang, including the possibility of influencing the outcome of any prosecution. Challenging Mr Big confessions in Australia has been unsuccessful. The lack of transparency and need for deception inherent in covert operations, however, exposes a potential for fabricated and coerced confessions and the risk of wrongful convictions. Scenario operations are not directly scrutinised by independent oversight bodies and an examination of reported cases suggests that Australian Mr Big operations do not involve covert police in unlawful activities that might been scrutinised under controlled operations regimes. This is a concern given a cultural predisposition within Australian law enforcement towards secrecy, rank-closing, and resistance to examination. We explore options for ensuring the safety of Mr Big convictions, including implementation of robust, independent oversight mechanisms, amendments to evidentiary rules about inducement-based confessions, and revised warning regimes to include direction on the need for caution in accepting scenario confessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During custodial interrogations, law enforcement officers are permitted to use various methods of deception to entice a suspect to give a confession. Two of these commonly used methods include the False Evidence Ploy (FEP), and its less deceptive variant, the bluff tactic. While the bluff may appear to be less deceptive than the FEP, it also influences innocent suspects to confess. In the present study, participants were shown 1 of 6 possible videos that varied the type of deception (control/FEP/bluff) along with interrogation length (1/12 hours). Participants rated how deceptive and coercive the interrogation was and rendered guilt judgments. The results indicates that participants failed to distinguish between the FEP and the bluff in terms of either deceptiveness or coercion, and neither deception type nor interrogation length impacted guilt judgments. Judgments of deception, coercion, and guilt intercorrelated, but participants did not distinguish between the deception tactics in any of these measures. The implications for juror evaluations of videotaped confessions during trial and the potential for wrongful convictions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay analyses disputed marriages/divorces involving Jewish immigrants to England between 1870 and 1940. English courts came to contradictory decisions in these cases due to the difference between religiously-based systems in Eastern Europe and Britain's secular, centralised approach. The result was split decisions. In civil courts, magistrates upheld religious marriages by awarding maintenance to wives, but the same evidence proved insufficient in the criminal courts to convict for bigamy. Unfortunately, whatever the outcome, these cases fed into anti-alienist rhetoric at the turn of the twentieth century, associating 'alien' Jewish immigrants with wife desertion, criminal behaviour, and even polygamy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wrongful convictions represent a significant form of injustice. Prior studies have described the impact of suspect and case characteristics on the likelihood of wrongful conviction. Less is known about the relative influence of these factors, particularly suspect race and official misconduct, on time lost following wrongful conviction, or the extent to which these relationships vary by conviction type. The current study addresses these questions through application of negative binomial regression and Clogg tests to cases of wrongful conviction for murder, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and drug possession listed in the National Registry of Exonerations (n = 2349). Our findings indicate the relative influence of suspect race and official misconduct on time lost varies by type of conviction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In a series of three studies, we investigated whether exposure to a brief video would influence attitudes toward wrongfully convicted individuals among undergraduate students (Studies 1 and 2) and community members (Study 3). In Study 1 (N = 216), we hypothesized that participants who watched a video about wrongful conviction (eyewitness misidentification vs. false confession) would have more positive attitudes toward wrongfully convicted individuals compared to those exposed to an unrelated video. In Study 2 (N = 203), we hypothesized that attitudes after, compared to before, watching the wrongful conviction video would be more positive. In Study 3 (N = 431), we explored the effect of an expert discussing wrongful conviction on attitudes. In all studies, we asked participants to watch a brief Innocence Project video of an exoneree discussing their wrongful conviction or an unrelated video and answer a series of questions assessing their attitudes toward wrongfully convicted individuals. Compared to those exposed to the control video, participants exposed to a video about wrongful conviction had more positive attitudes toward wrongfully convicted individuals. Based on these findings, we have evidence that watching these Innocence Project videos may result in more positive attitudes toward exonerees which could improve their reintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most criminal cases are resolved by a guilty plea, little empirical research has examined guilty plea wrongful convictions. This study explored this issue through semistructured interviews with 27 legal professionals in Queensland, Australia (n = 16 defense lawyers; n = 7 prosecutors; n = 4 magistrates). Driven by a systems and organizational perspective, we conducted a thematic analysis exploring the structural and organizational features that may systematically contribute to erroneous guilty plea convictions. We found an overarching emphasis on efficiency and pressure to quickly resolve cases, coupled with practical constraints impeding legal professionals from ensuring guilty pleas are appropriate and accurate. There was also a general acceptance of false guilty pleas through the justification of "choice," legitimized by the authoritative precedent set by Meissner v R (1995). The findings indicate the routine nature of erroneous guilty plea convictions and raise important implications regarding the current validity of a guilty plea, as they do not always reflect actual guilt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compensation is one of the few resources available to exonerees, as they do not qualify for many of the same re-entry services available to parolees. Past research has shown public support for exoneree compensation; however, little is known about what factors influence perceptions of exonerees receiving compensation. The current study investigated the role of the contributing factor in an exoneree's wrongful conviction case, participant characteristics, and perceptions of an exoneree and wrongful convictions, on perceptions of monetary compensation awards. Student participants were randomly assigned to read one of three fictitious news articles that varied in terms of the factor that led to an exoneree's wrongful conviction (i.e. false confession, eyewitness misidentification, or police misconduct), and afterwards answered a series of questions assessing perceptions of assistance, of the exoneree, and of wrongful convictions. Results indicated that contributing factor (police misconduct), participant characteristics (men), and perceptions of the exoneree (more innocent than guilty, exoneree 'Black' or 'Hispanic') and of wrongful convictions (supportive of other forms of assistance) were significant predictors of monetary compensation awards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countless policies are crafted with the intention of punishing all who do wrong or rewarding only those who do right. However, this requires accommodating certain mistakes: some who do not deserve to be punished might be, and some who deserve to be rewarded might not be. Six preregistered experiments (N = 3,484 U.S. adults) reveal that people are more willing to accept this trade-off in principle, before errors occur, than in practice, after errors occur. The result is an asymmetry such that for punishments, people believe it is more important to prevent false negatives (e.g., criminals escaping justice) than to fix them, and more important to fix false positives (e.g., wrongful convictions) than to prevent them. For rewards, people believe it is more important to prevent false positives (e.g., welfare fraud) than to fix them and more important to fix false negatives (e.g., improperly denied benefits) than to prevent them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innocent until proven guilty? For some who have walked through the criminal justice system, this American adage did not seem to ring true. The criminal justice system has produced many wrongful convictions, which is an unthinkable injustice. These individuals must then fight for compensation to get back on their feet in society after spending years, if not decades, unjustly behind bars. Ohio's wrongful conviction compensation statute perpetuates this injustice by categorically excluding exonerees who pled guilty to a crime they did not commit from receiving compensation from the State, with no exceptions. This Note critically analyzes the inherent harms from such an exclusion and proposes an amendment to Ohio's compensation statute that remedies these harms by giving the exoneree an opportunity to show why they pled guilty to a crime they did not commit. Ohio's abandonment of this guilty plea disqualification provision in the compensation statute would be one step in the direction of seeking justice for those who were presumed guilty until proven innocent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implications of a strategic model of plea bargaining are threefold. First, plea bargaining unequivocally increases wrongful convictions. Next, partial bans on plea bargaining reduce the frequency of wrongful convictions, and the reduction rises with the strength of the ban. Lastly, police share an important role in minimizing wrongful convictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research employs a convenience sample survey design to explore the complex interaction between race, gender, and public perceptions of wrongful convictions. Examining 324 responses from diverse groups, the study finds that these views are not uniform across different demographics. African Americans and women exhibit significantly heightened perceptions of wrongful convictions and more robust support for justice reform. The regression results also highlight that age, education, and professional background in law enforcement significantly influence these perspectives. Notwithstanding its limitations, the study forms foundation for further inquiry into the role of socio-demographic factors in shaping public attitudes toward criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mistaken eyewitness identifications continue to be a major contributor to miscarriages of justice. Previous experiments have suggested that implicit identification procedures such as the Concealed Information Test (CIT) might be a promising alternative to classic lineups when encoding conditions during the crime were favorable. We tested this idea by manipulating view congruency (frontal vs. profile view) between encoding and test. Participants witnessed a videotaped mock theft that showed the thief and victim almost exclusively from frontal or profile view. At test, viewing angle was either congruent or incongruent with the view during encoding. We tested eyewitness identification with the RT-CIT (N = 74), and with a traditional simultaneous photo lineup (N = 97). The CIT showed strong capacity to diagnose face recognition (d = 0.91 [0.64; 1.18]), but unexpectedly, view congruency did not moderate this effect. View congruency moderated lineup performance for one of the two lineups. Following these unexpected findings, we conducted a replication with a stronger congruency manipulation and larger sample size. CIT (N = 156) showed moderate capacity to diagnose face recognition (d = 0.63 [0.46; 0.80]) and now view congruency did moderate the CIT effect. For lineups (N = 156), view congruency again moderated performance for one of the two lineups. Capacity for diagnosing face recognition was similar for lineups and RT-CIT in our first comparison, but much stronger for lineups in our second comparison. Future experiments might investigate more conditions that affect performance in lineups vs. the RT-CIT differentially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the recent global interest in 'innocence projects', this article critically examines the various harms experienced by the wrongfully convicted after their release from prison. Locating itself within the zemiology literature, it uses the memoirs of a number of wrongfully convicted persons to conduct a narrative victimological critique of social harms that are often unacknowledged in policy and practice around the reintegration of the wrongfully convicted and in media and societal discussion of their experiences. Insights from these memoirs, it is argued, problematise the various forms of repair offered to the wrongly convicted because these often compound rather than alleviate particular post-release social harms. However, the first-hand accounts contained within their memoirs also illustrate how, far from being caught in a state of passive victimhood, the wrongfully convicted often regain agency through activism and telling their story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key theme in Mark's essay was the increased risk of wrongful convictions, which he saw as a natural consequence of the decline in criminal justice standards. The issue has been brought firmly into the public consciousness in a way not seen since the Irish terrorism miscarriages of justice of the late 1980's, not least due to the recent high-profile quashing of the conviction of Andrew Malkinson-who had served 17 and a half years in prison for a violent rape following the discovery of exculpatory DNA evidence--following on from the vast scale of the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters due to the Post Office Horizon scandal. Major inquiries are underway into both of these miscarriages of justice, so the issue will remain firmly in the public view for some time yet. As such, this paper will explore the key risks of miscarriages of justice and will examine measures currently being taken to alleviate that risk and maximise the possibility of their swift recognition and remedy. In the spirit of Mark George, it will endeavour to focus on the positive developments currently taking place, and highlight the work of the academics and legal practitioners who are dedicating their time and efforts in the aim of improving the system to the benefit of others in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The current study explores public opinion about civil liability for official misconduct by prosecutors by surveying a nationally representative sample of US adults (N = 2000). Method: Participants read a vignette describing a wrongful conviction and were randomly assigned to read a version where the prosecutor knew about exonerating DNA evidence before trial and did not disclose it or where the prosecutor was unaware of the exonerating evidence before trial. They then decided whether the prosecutor should be liable for money damages and explained their reasoning. Results: Results showed broad support for civil liability in both conditions. Support was consistent across demographic categories including race, age, and political affiliation. Responses also indicated support for liability for other government actors (e.g., police, prosecutors' offices). Conclusions: These results suggest there may be wide public support for policies and legislative initiatives that increase prosecutorial accountability through civil liability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seizure, safe handling and secure storage of evidence during criminal investigations is pivotal to the successful detection and prosecution of offences. The safe retention of materials after an investigation closes, even post-conviction, is also critical both to the ability of the appellate system to function and for 'cold cases' to be reviewed. Yet despite periodic high-profile instances in which failures to ensure the integrity and retention of evidence have occurred, there is a reticence to admit to evidence being lost; in particular, to consider the issue on an aggregate rather than a case-by-case basis. This lack of transparency is compounded by an accountability deficit, in which the issue falls through regulatory gaps. Provoked to locate proof of lost evidence, this article examines police retention of investigative materials, and details the results of surveys undertaken with lawyers and miscarriage of justice campaigners (n = 65) and police (n = 87), and 21 interviews with serving and retired police officers. We identify 'weak links' in the evidence chain that need strengthening, including the enhancement of training, improved physical packaging and storage facilities, sufficient training of police staff and the creation of specialised 'exhibits' roles. Further to practical resource demands, the issue requires accessible data so that the problem can be acknowledged, and accountability and oversight mechanisms created to assure processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on interviews via letter with 64 prisoners maintaining innocence across England and Wales, this article examines the perceived institutional consequences of claiming innocence within the prison environment. A myriad of areas, ranging from everyday living conditions, risk assessment, progression to ultimately parole, are all believed to be impacted by claims of wrongful conviction. As this article illustrates, such a position is often inconsistent with Prison Service Orders and Instructions. These prisoners are thus required to engage and work within a system that is not designed for them and that they believe penalises them as a result of their claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wrongful criminal conviction can significantly impair the mental health of exonerees. However, much less is known about wrongful accusation: the impact of wrongful legal allegations or investigations—absent conviction—on mental health outcomes. Method: To address this gap, we surveyed 101 victims of the Post Office Scandal in the United Kingdom who were wrongly accused, convicted and/or investigated for financial 'losses' that were actually caused by software errors. Results: Most respondents reported clinically significant post‐traumatic stress (67%) and depressive (60%) symptoms—irrespective of the outcome of their case. These results suggest that both wrongful accusation and wrongful conviction can significantly impair mental health. Conclusion: Our findings have important implications for victims of the Post Office Scandal and highlight the unique needs of people impacted by flawed convictions and flawed legal accusations. Our findings underscore the need to provide exonerees with holistic postrelease support and demonstrate that this support should also be extended to victims of wrongful accusation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]