Origin of Implication: How do Innocent Individuals Enter the Criminal Justice System?

• In Event: Miscarriages of Justice: Fresh Perspectives

Abstract

Wrongful convictions have been the focus of an increasing amount of research and public attention. The literature on preventing wrongful convictions has primarily focused on the factors at play after an individual enters the criminal justice system including eyewitness identification, false confessions, and official misconduct, among others. Less attention, however, has been directed toward how an innocent individual originally comes to the attention of the criminal justice system. Why does a photo lineup include the picture of an innocent individual? How does an innocent individual catch the attention of an officer on patrol? Origin of implication has rarely been addressed in the literature on wrongful convictions, yet can shed light on an important first step in the process which may lead to an erroneous conviction. In our study we use a dataset of 260 wrongful convictions and 200 “near misses” (cases in which an innocent individual was indicted but not convicted). Drawing from the cases in this dataset we develop a typology of origin of implication and conclude by discussing implications and next steps.

Authors

• Belen V. Lowrey, American University

• Katie Mitchell, American University

• Katie Hail-Jares, American University

• Jon Gould, American University