The Justice Project recent­ly released two pol­i­cy reviews that pro­vide sug­ges­tions for pre­vent­ing wrong­ful con­vic­tions in crim­i­nal tri­als. Using research and data from past exon­er­a­tions, the new reports, Expanded Discovery in Criminal Cases and Jailhouse Snitch Testimony, point to the places and sit­u­a­tions in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem where a wrong­ful con­vic­tion can be eas­i­ly pre­vent­ed.

Expanded Discovery in Criminal Cases stress­es the impor­tance of full evi­den­tiary dis­cov­ery in crim­i­nal cas­es. ​“Discovery” refers to how the pros­e­cu­tion must dis­close all non-priv­i­leged infor­ma­tion that is rel­e­vant in the crim­i­nal case before it goes to tri­al. The Justice Project notes, ​“All oth­er aspects of our con­sti­tu­tion­al sys­tem, such as due process and assis­tance of coun­sel, depend on com­plete dis­cov­ery.” Amongst oth­er solu­tions, they rec­om­mend that uni­form, manda­to­ry, and enforced dis­cov­ery laws be put in place to pre­vent wrong­ful con­vic­tions.

Jailhouse Snitch Testimony high­lights the preva­lence of this form of ques­tion­able evi­dence in tri­als. Jailhouse snitch tes­ti­mo­ny refers to an inmate tes­ti­fy­ing against anoth­er for his or her own per­son­al gain (e.g., reduced time in prison in exchange for the tes­ti­mo­ny). It is often used despite being unre­li­able. According to the report, ​“A 2005 study of 111 death row exonerees found that 51 were wrong­ly sen­tenced to death in part due to tes­ti­mo­ny of wit­ness­es with incen­tive to lie.” The Justice Project calls upon pros­e­cu­tors to raise the stan­dards for admis­si­bil­i­ty of jail­house infor­mant evi­dence at tri­al, includ­ing find­ing out­side cor­rob­o­ra­tion for the informant’s tes­ti­mo­ny and pro­vid­ing instruc­tions to the jury that alert them to the reli­a­bil­i­ty issues pre­sent­ed by snitch testimony. 

(Posted December 14, 2007) Read the Justice Project, Expanded Discovery in Criminal Cases and Jailhouse Snitch Testimony (both 2007). See also Resources and Innocence.

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