Wrongful Convictions

Recently, cases of wrongful conviction have come to the attention of the public in dramatically increasing numbers. Early in 2000, for example, Illinois Governor George Ryan, citing the number of innocent defendants who had been sent to death row in Illinois, announced an immediate moratorium on all executions in that state. There are various types of wrongful conviction. The two main types are cases in which the defendant was factually or legally innocent. Other categories include due process errors, accidents, and instances in which a defendant was guilty of a less serious offense than that for which he or she was convicted.

Factual innocence refers to situations in which it is determined that the defendant did not commit the crime for which he or she was convicted. This category also includes cases in which no crime was actually committed. Legal innocence refers to situations in which the state fails to convict at retrial following a defendant's successful appeal of the original conviction. This may occur because the state fails to meet its burden of proof, because the defendant is able to convince a jury that the crime for which he or she was convicted was committed in self-defense or that he or she was not mentally competent at the time of the offense, or because the defendant successfully employs some other affirmative defense. Legal innocence does not include reversals of convictions resulting from procedural errors.

Persons wrongfully convicted may also be victims of due process errors—situations in which the police or prosecutors did not follow proper procedures in securing a conviction. For example, convictions based upon evidence that was obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona or the Fourth Amendment proscription against unreasonable search and seizure may constitute due process errors. These wrongful convictions are usually not accompanied by any allegation of innocence. Another type of wrongful conviction involves accidents. If evidence surfaces after conviction that the alleged offense was in fact an accident—meaning there was no criminal intent—the defendant is not criminally culpable and punishment cannot be administered. Finally, in certain cases an individual is guilty of some crime, but not the one for which he or she was convicted. For example, an individual may be guilty of second-degree murder but may be wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder. This defendant is undoubtedly guilty of committing a homicide, but not the more serious type of homicide.