The Problem

Criminal justice systems across the world provide various safeguards to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions of the innocent. These safeguards involve basic legal principles (e.g., presumption of innocence, “beyond a reasonable doubt” standards of guilt), constitutional rights of the accused (e.g., the right to legal counsel, cross-examination of witnesses), and professional standards (e.g., guidelines for prosecutorial and judicial conduct). Nevertheless, these safeguards sometimes fail to protect the innocent from human errors of omission and commission. Despite major growth in these legal protections over the last half-century, wrongful convictions remain a serious threat to our basic views about justice. These errors are especially tragic when they are recognized only after long prison commitment or death of the falsely accused. Even when exonerations occur over a shorter time period and have less than lethal consequences, there is often irrevocable harm to the persons involved and their families.

Many countries and organizations dedicate their time and resources to identify and rectify wrongful convictions. These entities also provide some indication of the nature, causes, and socio-geographical distribution of wrongful convictions. Unfortunately, comparisons of these patterns and trends across data sources and nations are often difficult because of: (1) the use of different legal criteria for defining exonerations and wrongful convictions across data sources; (2) differences in the comprehensiveness of the data collection; and (3) the lack of available data on these cases across many world regions.

The current paper is designed to summarize what we know about the nature and distribution of the primary causal factors associated with wrongful convictions (e.g. the fallibility of eyewitness testimony or third-party testimonies). It briefly describes the most comprehensive data sources currently available on this topic within and across world regions, and concludes with a discussion on the growth of international initiatives and standards to help minimize the prevalence of wrongful convictions.

Research Evidence

Definitional Issues

Exonerations are defined as occurrences “when a person who has been convicted of a crime is officially cleared based on new evidence of innocence” (National Registry Exonerations n.d.). Wrongful conviction is what precedes an exoneration—it is a conviction that is based on flawed proceedings that have omitted indications of legal, actual/factual innocence, or both types of innocence. Before proceeding with a discussion on different data sources for exonerations, the distinction between actual/factual legal and innocence must be highlighted.