(Source) The wrongfully convicted are an oft overlooked demographic of the American population because society views wrongful convictions as rarely occurring. But in fact, the numbers are quite staggering. The number of people exonerated in the last 30 years due to actual innocence? 2,500. The combined number of years unnecessarily spent in prison? 22,315.
(Source) As mass incarceration continues to plague the United States criminal justice system, improved technology and evidence-gathering techniques seek to identify and exonerate the wrongfully convicted. Those accused of a crime may be wrongfully convicted for a variety of reasons such as eyewitness misidentifications, coerced false confessions, faulty forensics science, incompetent public defenders, and suppression
In Part IV of his series of related posts, JLPP’s Greg Renick discusses whether the Biggers five-factor approach to weighing the credibility of eyewitnesses violates due process.
In Part III of his series of related posts, JLPP’s Greg Renick analyzes empirical research that tends to call for a reform of the Biggers five-factor approach to weighing the credibility of eyewitnesses.
In Part II of a series of related posts, Greg Renick analyzes empirical research that supports a reform of the Biggers five-factor approach to weighing the credibility of eyewitnesses.
In Part I of a series of related posts, Greg Renick gives his take on the problem of faulty eyewitness testimony and the rate of wrongful imprisonment in the United States.