Overturning wrongful convictions : science serving justice / by Elizabeth A. Murray, PhD.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murray, Elizabeth A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crime analysis--United States--Juvenile literature.

Crime analysis.

Vindication--United States--Juvenile literature.

Vindication.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (120 pages) : illustrations, map

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : Twenty-First Century Books, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Imagine being convicted of a crime you didn't commit and spending years behind bars. Since 1989 more than 1,400 Americans who experienced this injustice have been exonerated. Some of the people who have won their freedom include Ronald Cotton, who was falsely convicted of raping a college student; Nicole Harris, who was unjustly imprisoned for the death of her son; and intellectually disabled Earl Washington Jr., who was unfairly sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a young mother. Wrongful convictions shatter lives and harm society by allowing real perpetrators to potentially commit additional crimes. How can such injustices happen? Overturning Wrongful Convictions recounts stories of individuals who served someone else's prison time due to mistaken eyewitness identification, police misconduct, faulty forensic science, poor legal representation, courtroom mistakes, and other factors. You'll learn about the legal processes that can lead to unjust convictions and about the Innocence Project and other organizations dedicated to righting these wrongs. The sciences--including psychology, criminology, police science, and forensic science--work hand in hand with the legal system to prosecute and punish those people whose actions break laws. Those same sciences can also be used to free people who have been wrongfully convicted. As a society, can we learn from past mistakes to avoid more unjust convictions?

Contents:

Cover

Front Flap

Title Page

Copyright Info

Contents

Introduction How Could This Happen?

Chapter One Entering The Criminal Justice System

Chapter Two The Path To Exoneration

Chapter Three Evidence Working For Change

Chapter Four Can You Believe Your Eyes?

Chapter Five Good Cop, Bad Cop

Chapter Six Bad Science

Chapter Seven Paying For Lies

Chapter Eight Poor Lawyering And Unjust Justices

Chapter Nine Where Do We Go From Here?

Exoneration Profiles

Source Notes

Selected Bibliography

For Further Information

Index

Photo Acknowledgments

About The Author/Acknowledgments

Back Flap

Back Cover.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4677-6307-1