Saturday, December 21, 2019

Evidence Based Social Policy Advocacy - Criminal Justice, wrongful convictions


Of the 367 wrongful convictions exonerated with DNA evidence by the Innocence Project since 1989:

130 were wrongfully convicted of murder with 40 cases, 31% involving eyewitness misidentifications, and 81 cases, 62%, involving false confessions.

The major reasons for wrongful convictions of the 367 exonerated cases by DNA evidence since 1989 are:

  1.  69% eyewitness misidentification
  2. 44% misapplication of forensic science
  3. 28% false confessions
  4. 17% inaccurate incentivized informant testimony
Action:
  1. How many wrongful convictions have occured in the jurisdiction of your congregation in the last ten years?
  2. Are members of your congregation monitoring the performance of police and prosecutors in your service area?
  3. What actions has your congregation taken to improve the just performance of the police and prosecutors in your service area in the last ten years and what are you planning in the coming ten years?
  4. Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. How specifically is your congregation and its members doing in implementing this principle in its congregational, familial, and personal lives? Is it a time for an assessment?


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