A new report from the National Institute of Justice exam­ines ways to reduce and pre­vent errors, such as the wrong­ful con­vic­tion of an inno­cent per­son. The report pro­pos­es ​“sen­tinel event reviews” — the exam­i­na­tion of mis­takes with a view of find­ing sys­temic prob­lems. The report uses the death penal­ty exon­er­a­tion of John Thompson in Louisiana to illus­trate its goal: ​“In Connick [v. Thompson], the tri­al pros­e­cu­tor with­held crime lab results from the defense, removed a blood sam­ple from the evi­dence room, and failed to dis­close that Thompson had been impli­cat­ed by some­one who had received a reward from the victim’s fam­i­ly. The con­vic­tion and death sen­tence were ulti­mate­ly over­turned on appeal, but no one learned any­thing from the Connick appel­late opin­ions about the deep­er, abid­ing issues in the case’s nar­ra­tive, and those issues were left to sur­face again in future cas­es.” The report includes analy­sis and rec­om­men­da­tions from peo­ple involved in all facets of the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, includ­ing police, pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, judges, and academics.

In his intro­duc­tion to the report, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says, ​“If we tru­ly hope to get to the bot­tom of errors and reduce the chances of repeat­ing them, then it is time we explore a new, sys­tem-wide, way of respond­ing, not by point­ing fin­gers, but by forth­right­ly assess­ing our process­es, look­ing for weak­ness­es in our meth­ods, and redesign­ing our approach so that the truth will be more attain­able. I hope these essays will launch this impor­tant and time­ly explo­ration and stim­u­late new ideas about ways we can ensure a fair­er and more effec­tive sys­tem of justice.”

(“Mending Justice: Sentinel Event Reviews,” National Institute of Justice, September, 2014; DPIC post­ed Sept. 10, 2014). See Studies and Innocence.

Citation Guide