Actual Innocence and Post-Conviction Procedures

• In Event: Global Perspectives on How the Law Works: Drug Policy and Wrongful Convictions

Abstract

The majority of successful reforms implemented by the Innocence Movement have focused on the pretrial components of wrongful convictions. While these reforms have potentially decreased the number of wrongful convictions, little has been done to address the issues facing innocent defendants following a wrongful conviction. Scholars have proposed various reforms to the criminal justice system: addressing the federal court treatment of habeas corpus, creating separate innocence review boards, and restructuring the criminal trial proceedings. By analyzing the proposed reforms, this paper illustrates how there is no single answer to the issue of wrongful convictions.

Author

• Samantha Senn, American University