A new report from The Death Penalty Project, ​“The Inevitability of Error,” exam­ines the risk of wrong­ful con­vic­tions in cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions through case stud­ies from around the world. The report ana­lyzes recent inno­cence cas­es in Japan, the U.S., Taiwan, and Sierra Leone, as well as old­er cas­es from the United Kingdom that encour­aged abo­li­tion efforts there. Among the cas­es includ­ed are those of Iwao Hakamada, who was released after 47 years on death row in Japan, and Kirk Bloodsworth, the first per­son in the U.S. exon­er­at­ed from death row by DNA evi­dence. The study rec­om­mends improve­ments to inves­tiga­tive and appel­late pro­ce­dures, but con­cludes, ​“This may, in the­o­ry, decrease the like­li­hood of wrong­ful con­vic­tions, but it will nev­er elim­i­nate it altogether.…There is no per­fect jus­tice sys­tem — error is inevitable. Wherever the death penal­ty is imposed, there is always a risk that inno­cent peo­ple will be con­vict­ed and executed.”

(“The inevitabil­i­ty of error: The admin­is­tra­tion of jus­tice in death penal­ty cas­es,” The Death Penalty Project, July 24, 2014). The Death Penalty Project is based in London and offers free legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion and oth­er assis­tance to those fac­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. See Innocence and Studies.

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