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 Across this country, men, women, and children, have been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. With recent advances in DNA technology providing conclusive proof of their innocence, scores of prisoners have been exonerated and released, some from death row, and many after years of incarceration. Scrutiny of these cases reveals serious and recurrent problems in the quality of the investigations, prosecutions, and representation of the accused, and in the reliability of the evidence produced against them. Increasing numbers of government and law enforcement officials, lawyers, citizens, academics and the accused have called for investigations and reforms in the criminal justice system, ranging from moratoriums on the death penalty to increased access to reliable scientific testing of evidence. On April 19-20, 2002, The Criminal Justice Institute and the New England Innocence Project will bring together defense lawyers and prosecutors, social workers and law enforcement personnel, judges and legislators, journalists and the victims of wrongful convictions to examine systemic problems that give rise to wrongful convictions and to propose concrete remedies for these problems at all stages of a criminal prosecution. Panels will examine cases of wrongful convictions and underlying issues in eyewitness identifications, DNA testing, confessions, jail-house "snitches," suppression of exculpatory evidence, inadequate representation, and forensic testing. The conference will also focus on the difficulties of reintegration and proposals for compensation for those who have been exonerated as well as on developing post-conviction and post-release resources. The conference will present specific proposals for enhancing confidence in the outcome of criminal trials, including standards for investigations and the admission of evidence, access to forensic resources and adequate legal representation, and judicial and legislative remedies. Models for post-conviction review will be discussed and working groups established to continue efforts at reform. Proposals for change will be drawn from a variety of perspectives, both national and international. Harvard University | Harvard Law School | Contact Last updated April 16, 2002 |
