“ACHIEVING JUSTICE: FREEING THE INNOCENT, CONVICTING THE GUILTY” REPORT RELEASED BY ABA

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 17, 2006 -- Every time an innocent person is wrongfully convicted, there are two injustices. One is to the person who was unfairly charged, the other to the victim of the crime and to society because a guilty person is still at large, able to commit further offenses.

A recent study indicates that there were 340 exonerations in our criminal justice system between 1989 and 2003, including 196 that did not involve DNA evidence. Another study found that DNA analysis has exonerated more than 175 convicts, including 14 of whom were on death row. In response to this research, the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section undertook an extensive review of the causes of wrongful convictions. The findings and recommendations that resulted have been published in a report titled, "Achieving Justice: Freeing the Innocent, Convicting the Guilty."

The Criminal Justice Section’s Ad Hoc Innocence Committee to Ensure the Integrity of the Criminal Process, which undertook the study, is composed of defense counsel, prosecutors, judges, academics and representatives from the forensic and law enforcement communities.

In looking at the causes of incorrect and unfair conviction, the innocence committee determined nine areas in which there was fault. The committee then developed resolutions and made recommendations in these nine areas, which include:

• False confessions
• Eyewitness identification procedures
• Forensic evidence
• Jailhouse informants
• Defense counsel practices
• Investigative policies and personnel
• Prosecution practices
• Systemic remedies
• Compensation for the wrongfully convicted

These recommendations have been adopted by the ABA’s House of Delegates, the association’s policy-making body, and represent ABA policy.

"Achieving Justice" points to a paper written by Berry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and Jim Dwyer that examined 62 of the first 67 DNA exonerations that were secured by Cardozo Law School’s Innocence Project. One-third of the cases involved "tainted or fraudulent science." Within that context, misconduct and gross negligence were noted. To address these issues, the ABA policy recommends that "crime laboratories and medical examiner offices … be accredited, examiners … be certified, and procedures … be standardized and published to ensure the validity, reliability and timely analysis of forensic evidence."

"Despite the growing number of individuals exonerated of serious crimes, including capital offenses" states the report, "only a minority of jurisdictions have adopted compensation statutes. … Most of those who are exonerated are not even entitled to the social services provided to released convicts." ABA policy that arose from the study urges jurisdictions to enact statutes to adequately compensate individuals convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit.

"Achieving Justice: Freeing the Innocent, Convicting the Guilty" is available via the ABA Webstore, http://www.ababooks.org.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.

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