Wrongly Convicted: Perspectives on Failed Justice (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813529522 ISBN 13: 9780813529523

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2001

Synopsis

The American criminal justice system contains numerous safeguards to prevent the conviction of innocent persons. The Bill of Rights provides nineteen separate rights for the alleged criminal offender, including the right to effective legal representation and the right to be judged without regard to race or creed. Despite these safeguards, wrongful convictions persist, and the issue has reverberated in the national debate over capital punishment.

The essays in this volume are written from a cross-disciplinary perspective by some of the most eminent lawyers, criminologists, and social scientists in the field today. The articles are divided into four sections: the causes of wrongful convictions, the social characteristics of the wrongly convicted, case studies and personal histories, and suggestions for changes in the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions. Contributors examine a broad range of issues, including the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, particularly in cross-racial identifications; the disadvantages faced by racial and ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system; and the impact of new technologies, especially DNA evidence, in freeing the innocent and bringing the guilty to justice. The book also asks such questions as: What legal characteristics do wrongful convictions share? What are the mechanisms that defendants and their attorneys use to overturn wrongful convictions? The book also provides case studies that offer specific examples of what can and does go wrong in the criminal justice system.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The American criminal justice system contains numerous safeguards to prevent the conviction of innocent persons. The Bill of Rights provides nineteen separate rights for the alleged criminal offender. Despite these safeguards, wrongful convictions persist, and the issue has reverberated in the national debate over capital punishment.

The essays in this volume are written from a cross-disciplinary perspective by some of the most eminent lawyers, criminologists, and social scientists in the field today. The most important single characteristic among wrongful conviction cases, the contributors argue, is chronic denial of the existence of a problem by politicians and prosecutors and their failure to act decisively when evidence of a possible wrongful conviction comes to light.

The articles are divided into four sections: the causes of wrongful convictions, the social characteristics of the wrongly convicted, case studies and personal histories, and suggestions for changes in the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions. Contributors examine a broad range of issues, including the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, particularly in cross-racial identifications; the disadvantages faced by racial and ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system; and the impact of new technologies, especially DNA evidence, in freeing the innocent and bringing the guilty to justice.

Contributors are: James R. Acker, Hugo Adam Bedau, Adele Bernhard, George Castelle, Mari A. DeWees, Daniel Givelber, William M. Holmes, Richard A. Leo, William S. Lofquist, Elizabeth F. Loftus, Dianne L. Martin, Peter Neufeld, Karen F. Parker, Michael L. Radelet, Barry Scheck, Margaret Vandiver, and Clifford S. Zimmerman.

About the Author:

Saundra D. Westervelt is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is author of Shifting the Blame: How Victimization Became a Criminal Defense (Rutgers University Press). John A. Humphrey is a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and coauthor of Deviant Behavior and The Administration of Justice.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0813529522
• ISBN 13: 9780813529523
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 301
• Editor: Westervelt Saundra, Humphrys John