In a recent op-ed in the Albany Times Union, crim­i­nal jus­tice expert Scott Christianson asked that state lead­ers con­sid­er New York’s well-doc­u­ment­ed prob­lems with wrong­ful con­vic­tions before try­ing to fix the state’s uncon­sti­tu­tion­al death penal­ty statute. Christianson, a for­mer state crim­i­nal jus­tice offi­cial, doc­u­ment­ed more than 130 cas­es (most of them involv­ing con­vic­tions since 1980), in which inno­cent per­sons were con­vict­ed (most­ly of mur­der) and sen­tenced to long prison terms in New York. Experts have found that from 1 to 10 per­cent of those con­vict­ed of a felony in New York are actu­al­ly inno­cent, and these proven cas­es are ​“sim­ply the tip of the ice­berg,” accord­ing to Christianson. He wrote fur­ther: ​“In the past, pros­e­cu­tors did­n’t have to wor­ry as much that their mis­takes would ever come to light. Today, how­ev­er, with the advent of DNA and pos­si­bly oth­er defin­i­tive tech­nolo­gies, actu­al inno­cence in some cas­es threat­ens to become pos­i­tive­ly estab­lished even after an offend­er has been con­vict­ed or even legal­ly exe­cut­ed. … Any proven wrong­ful con­vic­tion can expose seri­ous injus­tices and under­mine respect for law enforce­ment.”

Among Christianson’s rec­om­men­da­tions for address­ing these con­cerns are reforms such as requir­ing a spe­cif­ic state agency to main­tain a data­base of defen­dants who have been found wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and con­ven­ing a blue-rib­bon pan­el to hold pub­lic hear­ings and report its find­ings. Christianson also believes that New York should require the video­tap­ing of police inter­ro­ga­tions, over­haul its pub­lic defense sys­tem, and hold those involved in improp­er­ly pros­e­cut­ing cas­es account­able for their actions. Based on the stud­ies and data Christianson con­clud­ed, ​“The inevitabil­i­ty of error is just one rea­son why the death penal­ty is a bad idea. But it’s one that fair-mind­ed cit­i­zens … can understand.” 

(Times-Union, January 23, 2005). See Innocence.

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