But, as Governor Ryan and others have recognized, flaws in our system unfortunately go well beyond access to DNA testing. Snitches tell lies. Confessions are coerced or fabricated. Racism trumps truth. Lab tests are rigged.
Defense lawyers sleep.
Indeed, Scheck and Neufeld note that eyewitness error is the single most important cause of wrongful convictions. As important as DNA testing is, it is only the first step in addressing the host of problems in the administration of capital punishment. It is time for the Congress to take the lead and declare once and for all that it is unacceptable to execute an innocent man or woman. It is a central pillar of our criminal justice system that it is better that many guilty people go free than that one innocent should suffer. Sadly, history has demonstrated that time and again, America has brought innocence itself to the bar and condemned it to die.