Criminal Justice System Reform and Wrongful Conviction

Abstract

This article describes the nature and importance of wrongful conviction as a criminal justice policy issue, the development of an innocence movement to litigate on behalf of potential exonerees and to promote policy issues, the innocence movement’s policy and research agenda, and the very small amount of criminal justice research on the issue in comparison to legal and psychological inquiry. A research agenda for criminal justice policy scholars is proposed to explore the innocence movement and its research agenda. Research models from political science and sociology regarding the study of public policy, social movements, and interest groups offer themes and methods that would allow criminal justice researchers to expand their understanding of the criminal justice system’s capacity for reform. Network analysis and the diffusion of innovation research are suggested as approaches to examine the context and spread of innocence reforms.