Wrongful Convictions: The American Experience

Abstract

The increasing number of high-profile cases of wrongful conviction, often brought to light by DNA exonerations, and the publicity associated with those errors have increased the salience of this issue on the public policy agendas of a number of U.S. states, as well as in Canada. Scholarly research on this subject has also increased over the past two decades. This article discusses the extent to which these errors may occur; the major factors contributing to false convictions; recent and current developments regarding legislation in the United States; innocence projects and innocence commissions in the United States, Britain, and Canada; and the significance of wrongful conviction as a factor in the current challenges to the death penalty in the United States. It is important that we develop a better understanding of wrongful conviction and its causes so that we can both better protect the rights of the innocent and better protect citizens from being victimized by offenders who remain free while the wrongly convicted are sent to prison.