Wrongful Convictions and the Law

Catalog description

Wrongful convictions often include two types of errors, an innocent person is punished, and a guilty person escapes justice. In this class, we will explore how such errors occur by focusing on both investigation and adjudication practices. We will then apply what we have learned about criminal procedure to analyze individual wrongful conviction cases. This is an interactive course. Students will review case intake documents from a cooperating legal organization and help inform their case decisions. We will also work with the National Registry of Exonerations to draft case profiles for people who have already been exonerated. Ultimately, we will weigh the challenges of upholding defendants' rights without compromising public safety or producing additional errors.