Does Origin of Implication Impact the Investigation and Trial of Innocent Defendants?

• In Event: Miscarriages of Justice 1

Abstract

Previous research on innocent defendants' origin of implication – the way in which they became suspects – has identified eight primary pathways to suspicion: victim or eyewitness identification, officer identification, citizen identification, intentional misidentification, physical evidence, criminal activity, physical proximity, and social proximity. While the defendant characteristics that predict origin of implication have been examined, research has yet to be conducted on the impact of defendant’s origin of implication on the resulting police investigation and criminal trial. We use the Preventing Wrongful Convictions Project dataset to examine whether an innocent defendant’s origin of implication is correlated with investigative and trial errors, including the elicitation of a false confession, forensic evidence error, police or prosecutor withholding of evidence, and perjury by a victim or witness. This research can speak to how tunnel vision takes shape as a case progresses through the criminal justice system as well as result in recommended policies to prevent the conviction of innocent defendants.

Authors

• Belen Lowrey-Kinberg, St. Francis College

• Samantha L. Senn, American University

• Jon B. Gould, American University

• Katie Hail-Jares, Griffith University