Controversies in Innocence Cases in America

Sarah Lucy Cooper

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781409463542
• eBook ISBN: 9781317160021
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

Controversies in Innocence Cases in America brings together leading experts on the investigation, litigation, and scholarly analysis of innocence cases in America, from legal, political and ethical perspectives. The contributors, many of whom work on these cases daily, investigate contemporary issues presented by innocence cases and the exoneration movement as a whole. These issues include the challenges faced by the movement, causes of wrongful convictions, problems associated with investigating, proving, and defining 'innocence', and theories of reform. Each issue is placed within a multi-disciplinary perspective to provide cogent observations and recommendations for the effective handling of these cases, and for what changes should be adopted in order to improve the American criminal justice system when it is faced with its most harrowing sight: an innocent defendant.

Controversies in American Constitutional Law

Series Editors:

Jon Yorke and Anne Richardson Oakes, Centre for American Legal Studies, School of Law, Birmingham City University, UK

Controversies in American Constitutional Law presents and engages with the contemporary developments and policies which mould and challenge US constitutional law and practice. It deals with the full spectrum of constitutional issues, publishing work by scholars from a range of disciplines who tackle current legal issues by reference to their underlying legal and political histories and the philosophical perspectives that they represent. Its cross-disciplinary approach encourages analysis of past, present and future challenges to the idea of US constitutionalism and the power structures upon which it rests. The series provides a forum for scholars to challenge the boundaries of US constitutional law and engages with the continual process of constitutional refinement for the protection of individual rights and liberties, within an evolving framework of legitimate government.

CALS promotes research, scholarship, and educative programs in all areas of US law, and is the home of the British Journal of American Legal Studies. Faculty members have extensive experience in submitting amicus curiae briefs to the United States Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and advising on criminal justice issues in many states. CALS coordinates the largest British law undergraduate internship program to the United States. Through this program, and members’ research, CALS has created relationships with over 100 partners in over 25 states. CALS faculty advise public bodies, provide professional training, and speak at conferences across the USA.

Controversies in Innocence Cases in America

Edited by

Sarah Lucy Cooper

Birmingham City University, UK

First published 2014 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge

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Copyright © Sarah Lucy Cooper 2014

Sarah Lucy Cooper has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cooper, Sarah Lucy.

Controversies in innocence cases in America / By Sarah Lucy Cooper.

p. cm. –– (Controversies in American constitutional law)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4094-6354-2 (hardback) –– ISBN 978-1-3155-7410-3 (ebook) –– ISBN 978-1-3171-6002-1 (epub) 1. Judicial error––United States. 2. False imprisonment––United States. 3. Criminal justice, Administration of––United States. I. Title.

KF9756.C66 2014

345.73'0122––dc23

2013041849

ISBN 9781409463542 (hbk)

ISBN 9781315574103 (ebk – PDF)

ISBN 9781317160021 (ebk – ePUB)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315574103

Contents

• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword by the Arizona Justice Project
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• PART I: THE RISE OF THE INNOCENCE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
  • 1 Innocence Found: The New Revolution in American Criminal Justice Keith A. Findley
  • 2 The Innocence Network: From Beginning to Branding Jacqueline McMurtrie
• PART II: HOW ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE CONVICTED? COMMON CAUSES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
  • 3 Eyewitnesses and Erroneous Convictions: An American Conundrum Jules Epstein
  • 4 Disputed Interrogation Techniques in America: True and False Confessions and the Estimation and Valuation of Type I and II Errors Deborah Davis, Richard A. Leo, Michael J. Williams
  • 5 Innocence and the Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence by Prosecutors Lissa Griffin
  • 6 The Two-Legged Stool: The Asymmetry of American Aid for the Rule of Law and the Risk of Wrongful Conviction Carrie Leonetti
• PART III: REALITY BITES: PROBLEMS WITH INVESTIGATING, PROVING AND DEFINING INNOCENCE
  • 7 The Emerging Role of Innocence Lawyer and the Need for Role-Differentiated Standards of Professional Conduct D. Michael Risinger and Lesley C. Risinger
  • 8 When Finality and Innocence Collide Carrie Sperling
  • 9 Narrowing the Construction of “Innocence”: Societal and Constitutional Consequences Francine Banner
• PART IV: INNOCENCE REFORM
  • 10 Towards a Theory of Innocence Policy Reform Nancy Marion and Marvin Zalman
  • 11 Innocence Commissions in America: Ten Years After Sarah Lucy Cooper
• Index

Notes on Contributors

Francine Banner is an Associate Professor at Arizona Summit Law School, where she teaches constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal procedure. She received her JD from New York University School of Law and her PhD in Justice Studies from Arizona State University. She has published numerous articles on capital punishment, terrorism, and other issues related to gender, justice, and human rights.

Sarah Lucy Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Law and founding member of the Centre for American Legal Studies at Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom, where her teaching focuses on English and American criminal procedure, practice, and reform. Sarah leads criminal law on the LL.B and carries out her research in the Centre for American Legal Studies. She is a barrister and Lord Denning Scholar of the Bar of England and Wales, and has interned as a research assistant for a federal capital defense team in Arizona and California, and the Community Relations Trust of Jersey. She has been a pro bono academic for charities Amicus and Reprieve since 2007. Since 2010, Sarah has been a fellow at the Arizona Justice Project—a non-profit organization that considers claims of “innocence” and “manifest injustice” from Arizona inmates—at Arizona State University. In that time, she has worked on multiple post-conviction relief and clemency petitions, grappling with issues surrounding actual innocence, forensic science, medical science, confessions, and disproportionate sentencing. In 2012, Sarah’s work was documented by Barry Siegel in his non-fiction book, Manifest Injustice: The True Story Of A Convicted Murderer And The Lawyers Who Fought For His Freedom. Sarah has published and presented her scholarship in Europe and the USA, and was recently shortlisted for Birmingham Law Society’s 2012 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award, and the Bar Pro Bono Unit’s 2013 Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award.

Deborah Davis, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has worked on over 100 cases as a jury consultant, and more than 200 cases as an expert witness on issues of witness memory, coerced confessions, and sexual consent; and she lectures at continuing legal education seminars on these topics. Dr. Davis teaches courses relevant to the legal system—including psy...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Frontmatter 1
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• Foreword by the Arizona Justice Project
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Dedication
• PART I: THE RISE OF THE INNOCENCE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
• PART II: HOW ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE CONVICTED? COMMON CAUSES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
• PART III: REALITY BITES: PROBLEMS WITH INVESTIGATING, PROVING AND DEFINING INNOCENCE
• PART IV: INNOCENCE REFORM
• Index