During his recent State of the Union address before Congress, President George W. Bush raised con­cerns about race, wrong­ful con­vic­tions, and ade­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion for those fac­ing the death penalty: 

Because one of the main sources of our nation­al uni­ty is our belief
in equal jus­tice, we need to make sure Americans of all races and
back­grounds have con­fi­dence in the sys­tem that pro­vides jus­tice.

In America we must make dou­bly sure no per­son is held to account
for a crime he or she did not com­mit — so we are dra­mat­i­cal­ly
expand­ing the use of DNA evi­dence to pre­vent wrong­ful con­vic­tion.

Soon I will send to Congress a pro­pos­al to fund spe­cial train­ing
for defense coun­sel in cap­i­tal cas­es, because peo­ple on tri­al for
their lives must have com­pe­tent lawyers by their side. 

(Washington Post, February 3, 2005). See also DPIC’s Summary of the Justice For All Act, a more com­pre­hen­sive approach to the same prob­lems passed into law in 2004. See also, Innocence.

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