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To examine gender and racial differences in known wrongful conviction cases.

Cases were identified for inclusion in this study through the use of established databases available electronically. Supplemental information was gathered through newspapers, magazines, and direct correspondence with individuals associated with the cases.

Of special significance was the role of witness error in wrongful convictions. Although more prominent in cases involving African American men, witness error was also problematic in murder and manslaughter cases involving African American women. Whereas white women were more likely to be included in wrongful convictions for murder and child abuse, African American women were more likely to be found in wrongful convictions for drugs and property and other offenses. Wrongfully convicted white women were 2.7 times more likely than their African American counterparts to be sentenced to life. Victim race appeared to play a role in a number of the wrongful convictions for both African American men and women.

This study expands our knowledge of known wrongful convictions among African Americans, a group that is disproportionately found in the criminal justice data.

The power of the executive to refer cases involving criminal conviction back to an appellate court is a mechanism for guarding against miscarriages of justice and regulating the inherent fallibility of the criminal justice system. These cases typically come before the executive by way of a petition that claims a person has been wrongfully convicted. In Australia, however, there are few guidelines and little information as to the criteria and standards by which the executive decides whether to refer a petitioned case. The test the petitioner must meet is not clear. This chapter therefore has two purposes. The first is to examine the types of petitions most likely to be referred to the appellate court by the executive. These cases are shown to fall into particular categories. The second is to argue that, from these categories, inferences may be drawn about the test the executive uses in deciding whether to refer a petition. These inferences follow from the common principles and links between the cases in each category. The chapter identifies the test the petition should meet to have optimal chance of referral.

The conviction of innocent individuals has emerged as an international concern, resulting in substantial attention to the legal needs that stem from exoneration. However, many other challenges can also arise in the aftermath of an exoneration, including financial, psychosocial and mental health needs. Relatively little has been written about the particular reentry needs of individuals who are exonerated of their charges, and even fewer studies have considered the effectiveness of various treatment approaches. The purpose of this paper is to reviews the available literature, identifies gaps and provides clinical recommendations for the development of treatment interventions for exonerees.

The research addressing the needs and challenges that arise in the aftermath of exoneration is reviewed and analysed for implications that can guide treatment-planning in this area.

This paper reviews key finds from the literature and provides recommendations for developing a semi-structured approach to treating exonerees.

Practical applications for the development of effective therapeutic interventions for exonerated individuals are identified and discussed.

Currently, there is very limited literature addressing the specific reentry needs and effective therapeutic interventions for exonerated individuals.

The victim’s rights movement and restorative justice (RJ) have gained momentum around the world. More laws and policies have focused on crime victims and their families. Western literature suggests that the victim’s family suffers physical, emotional, and financial tolls and that the power of the victim’s family in pursuing justice for their loved ones remains limited. This is particularly concerning within the political and legal context of the abolitionist movement, innocence project, and human rights groups’ campaigns against police torture. Grounded in the perspectives of RJ and Chinese legal culture, this study examines the victim’s family, represented by Ding and senior Yu, of the Nian Bin capital murder case. Drawing on published reports and using the thematic content analysis method, this study examines the following aspects of victim’s family in a death penalty case: 1) victim family’s physical, emotional, and financial tolls; 2) victims’ family and the criminal justice system; 3) victims’ family and the media; and 4) the relationship between the victims’ and the accused’s families. This study concludes with discussions of the competing goals of families impacted by a crime and RJ practices that would help mitigate the loss of the victim’s family and enhance their confidence in the criminal justice system.

Legislative action was historically the means by which U.S. states abolished capital punishment, but such action ceased for decades following the Supreme Court's 1976 Gregg decision that reaffirmed the constitutionality of the death penalty. Despite the fact that several legislatures have considered abolition bills in the modern era, only three states successfully enacted such legislation. It is my purpose in this study to analyze why states are currently struggling to pass abolition legislation and to determine which factors contribute to success. I conduct a comparative, qualitative case study of New Jersey, the first state to legislatively abolish since 1976, and Maryland, a similar state whose abolition effort recently failed. I analyze the content of legislators’ debates about the abolition bills in committee and on the legislature floor, as well as news coverage of the abolition efforts in each state's largest newspapers. I reach two primary conclusions. First, an abolition bill is more likely to be passed by Democrats than Republicans, but unified Democratic control of the government is not a sufficient condition for abolition. Second, arguments about the risk of wrongful executions and the deleterious collateral consequences of the death penalty process on the family members of murder victims are powerful sources of political support for abolition, especially where doubts about the deterrent effect of the death penalty are widespread. This study reaffirms the central importance of the innocence frame in the modern death penalty debate, and it presents the first scholarly analysis of the collateral consequences frame. These findings may help activists in the abolition movement more effectively frame their arguments to appeal to legislators.

Both anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that even well-intentioned eyewitnesses can make inaccurate identifications resulting in erroneous prosecutions and wrongful convictions. The risk of erroneous identification increases when witnesses are asked to identify people belonging to other races. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the policies which enhance the likelihood of obtaining accurate identifications from eyewitnesses. Legal implications especially relevant to police administrators in the USA including constitutional considerations and risks of civil liability are integrated with the empirical record and used to make policy recommendations likely to decrease legal and public relations entanglements for police.

This paper integrates an empirical literature review with legal research and analysis in order to advocate for prudent policy reforms.

Both the empirical record and current US law indicate that police administrators would be well-advised to require serial, double-blind identification procedures where witnesses are routinely warned about the perpetrator’s potential absence and required to give immediate certainty statements. Officers should be prohibited from using the same suspect with the same witness more than once and should be provided with training on the inherent dangers of inaccuracy associated with cross-racial identifications.

While a significant amount of material concerning eyewitness identification exists, most of the existing work does not integrate legal realities, especially those concerning civil liability, within the framework of the eyewitness identification literature. Nor does past work contextualize the need for reform with the emerging racially charged atmosphere in which US police must currently work.

Is the death penalty dying? This autobiographical essay offers observations on the application of capital punishment in three very different legal jurisdictions at three different time periods when – partially by happenstance and partially by design – she was a homicide researcher, a participant and an observer of profound changes in the jurisdiction's application of the death penalty.

The #SayHerName movement aims to bring attention to the stories and lives of Blackgirlwomen who have died and/or been brutalized by the state/civilian “vigilante justice.” The culmination of the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and The Center for Intersectional Policy Studies (CISPS), as well as legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw #SayHerName argues that the inclusion of Blackgirlwomen's experiences within the larger discourse of antiBlack violence brings a much-needed gender inclusive perspective. Drawing on Black feminist thought, this chapter articulates the multiple and complex meanings of #SayHerName by bringing attention to Blackgirlwomen as theorists, athletes, and activists whose lived experiences and contributions have long been marginalized.