Judicial Disasters: Original Crime Victims Share their Experiences With Wrongful Convictions

• In Event: Original Trauma and Judicial Disasters: Original Crime Victims’ Experiences with Wrongful Convictions in the USA

Abstract

This presentation will report on current research exploring original crime victim’s experiences with exonerations. Dr. Cook has conducted 20 in-depth interviews in the USA with original rape victims and murder victim’s family members in 14 cases that resulted in exonerations. These original crime victims experience the harrowing trauma of the original crimes, and then endure the difficult process of justice system investigations and trials, and then ultimately the process of exonerations. These in-depth interviews document the enduring harms of the original crime, and the compounded harms of the exonerations in their cases. Coded themes, including restorative justice and policy recommendations will be shared.

Author

• Kimberly Cook, University of North Carolina Wilmington