The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law has released a new report enti­tled, The Snitch System: How Snitch Testimony Sent Randy Steidl and Other Innocent Americans to Death Row. The report high­lights 51 cas­es of Americans who were wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and giv­en death sen­tences based on the tes­ti­mo­ny of wit­ness­es with incen­tives to lie. According to the Center, snitch tes­ti­mo­ny is the pri­ma­ry cause for approx­i­mate­ly 45% of all wrong­ful cap­i­tal con­vic­tions, mak­ing it the lead­ing prob­lem result­ing in inno­cent peo­ple being sent to death row.

The report pro­vides in-depth infor­ma­tion on the cas­es of death row exonerees Verneal Jimerson, Gordon Steidl, Joseph Burrows, Perry Cobb, Steven Smith, Gary Gauger, Steven Manning, Rolando Cruz, and Madison Hobley. It con­cludes with rec­om­men­da­tions on improv­ing the reli­a­bil­i­ty of tes­ti­mo­ny used to con­vict and sen­tence defen­dants in cap­i­tal cas­es. (Center on Wrongful Convictions, 2004). See Resources and Innocence. Note: Snitch tes­ti­mo­ny was used to con­vict Cameron Willingham, who was exe­cut­ed in Texas in 2004. A recent inves­ti­ga­tion (see pre­vi­ous What’s New item) by the Chicago Tribune now indi­cates Willingham might have been innocent.

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