The Impact of an Exonoree’s Guest Lecture on Students’ Attitudes toward Wrongly Convicted Persons

Abstract

Although research has addressed factors underlying wrongful conviction, relatively little research investigates how people who have been wrongly convicted are perceived by others. In particular, we examined the impact of an exonoree speaking about his experiences on attitudes and perceptions of wrongful conviction. To contribute to this understudied area, we surveyed two groups of students before and after hearing a guest lecture—either a guest lecture on wrongful conviction given by an exonoree or a guest lecture on Aboriginal issues. We assessed attitudes toward individuals who have been wrongly convicted, attitudes regarding the role of government in wrongful conviction, and attitudes about who is at risk of wrongful conviction. In general, participants who heard the exonoree’s lecture reported more attitude change toward wrongly convicted individuals in comparison to those who heard the other lecture. Our research is situated within Goffman’s theory of stigma and implications of these findings for exonorees and the literature on wrongful conviction are discussed.