Wrongful Convictions

1 out of 6 juries in criminal cases decide cases incorrectly according to a new study in The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. The study is online here, but it costs $29 and I haven't spent the money yet.

1 in 6. Hhmmmm. That would seem to suggest that maybe, just maybe, political responses to crime such as:

increasing the number and types of crimes
increasing jail sentences
mandatory minimum jail sentences
reducing probation/parole options
increasing public defender caseloads
limiting defense access to discovery
sex offender registries
reducing ground for bail
the drug war in general

(to name a few) are potentially misguided. Just a thought.

Comments

[Steve]

Interesting conclusion, though I'd have to think a while about the way he determined 'wrong' decisions. Anyway, I tried to find the article thru Loussac (just need your library card) or UAA. Neither seemed to have that journal in their data bases. But Googling the first line of the abstract got me an earlier version of the article. But since it was revised May 2007, I bet it's the same as the published version. Go here

[Jeff]

Perhaps we should add "lack of eduction in legal matters"?

Are CSI or Boston Legal setting the standards for juries these days? I don't know--I'm not a laywer. I'm just wondering.

Thanks