The Pain of a Wrongful Conviction

We all suffer when we hear about a individual spending years behind bars — only later to be proven innocent. No one wants to put a person in jail for a crime they did not commit. Our respect for pure justice may also be diminished when we learn about these tragic instances.

The questions remains …why do they occur and how can they be avoided?

How Bad Science Can Subvert the Law

There are many factors that come into play on how the wheels of justice turn. Some experts assert that bad science, inadvertently practiced, may result in putting the wrong people in jail.

For starters, let’s consider “evidence” that many of us may have considered proof of guilt – eyewitness testimony, a suspects signed confession, body language, recorded interrogations, or a forensic match of hair to a crime.

Police Lineups

Each year tens of thousands of people are charged with crimes after being identified in a police lineup. Research now indicates that eyewitnesses “identify” an innocent person about one-third of the time. Few are done with malicious intent. So how is this possible?

Our Brains Are Not Like a Tape Recorder

The “facts” get cloudier as we go through our daily life. All the people we meet, the things we hear, what we read, and even the dreams we have, influence how we recall an event — even a recent event.

In addition, our recall is prone to error if we are frightened. For example, our selection in a line-up can be influenced by the subtle and inadvertent choice of words that a detective may use –the way he or she makes a statement or the instructions they give. Something we saw the day before in social media – an image of a black, hispanic, white, tall, short, bearded, clean shaven, skinny or fat person who is accused of another crime, may unconsciously influence us as well.

Confessions

A detective may attempt to gain a confession if they believe a suspect is guilty. In this attempt, they might inadvertently play down the the seriousness of the offense and the penalty. In the end, unknowingly, they might have encouraged a frightened suspect to admit to things they didn’t do. When a suspect later recounts, many consider it a legal maneuver and discount it.

A Point of View

Even the choice of where a camera is placed in an interrogation room, which may seem inconsequential,  can affect whether a confession is determined by a court to have been voluntary.  For example, when people watch a recording with the camera placed behind the detective, they are far more likely to find that the confession was voluntary then if they observed the interactions from the point of view of the suspect.

Body Language

Some investigators believe that they can determine a person’s guilt by their body language – “He looked guilty, acted nervous, and avoided eye contact.” But science shows that determining if a person is lying from their body language is generally ineffective and often just plain wrong.

Hair Matching is Bad Science

Hair matching, which use to carry significant weight in a courtroom, has now been demonstrated to be inaccurate. Even forensic analysis – fingerprints and DNA matches which carry credible scientific weight — have been shown to be “inaccurate”. Recent statistical data shows that matches are significantly more likely when the forensic expert, testing for the match, is aware that the sample is from someone that the police suspect is guilty.

Our Own Bias

We now know that unintentional bias plays an even wider role than we thought before. Most police officer do their best to enforce the law without prejudice. They are not racists, but law enforcement professionals. Television show, newspaper reports, and stories that our parents and grandparents told us may bias us against individuals that look different than we do. We can carry this bias even if we attempt to suppress it.

How Can We Practice Better Criminal Justice?

Unfortunately, we can not eliminate the effect cultural background plays in our lives, but we can make sure that the police, juries, and judges are made of people with diverse backgrounds and made aware of the limitations of memory. We should consider requiring simulator training that helps police learn to hold their fire until they are more certain. In addition, we should also consider requiring education for law enforcement that is targeted at disrupting stereotypes.

Invest in More Police On the Street and Less People In Jail

Today, some criminal justice experts are suggesting that we pull back on harsh penalties, like three-strikes your out laws, and use the billions of dollars saved from reduced incarceration to invest in putting more police officers out on the street. Studies indicate the presence of more police in a neighborhood reduces crime – whereas the threat of longer jail time is not as effective.