Many nights I have trouble sleeping, knowing how much more I could be doing for those imprisoned who perhaps should be free. It has been somewhat satisfying to watch the conventional wisdom come around in the past five years, thanks in large part to the efforts of journalists and academics. A turning point occurred last November during the National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty. Held at Northwestern University, it brought together many of the then 74 death row prisoners who had been exonerated and freed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Every system makes mistakes Because the news media finally had an event to cover, rather than seemingly isolated cases, the publicity before, during and after the conference turned out to be immense.
Most criminal cases are brought against guilty defendants, the prosecutors argue.
Every system makes mistakes. If a pharmaceutical manufacturer sells a prescription medicine that causes the death of even one consumer, many of us say that the one death is unacceptable. Yet a much higher number of wrongful convictions seems to be acceptable, especially given the notion that most of the defendants are habitual criminals who got away with some other offense earlier in life. Warning signs in unlawful cases Prosecutors or anybody else should not consider the amount of wrongful convictions acceptable. If journalists and jurors, as well as those who make their living inside the system, would evaluate every criminal case while focusing on the warning signs, wrongful convictions would almost certainly decrease.