ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the wrongful convictions and presents the main causes of wrongful convictions and factors that led to the discovery of errors. It then discusses the impact the innocence issue has had on overall death penalty public opinion. One of the first studies to attempt to identify predictors of wrongful convictions was conducted by Harmon. One of the first studies to attempt to identify compelling claims of innocence that resulted in an execution rather than exoneration was undertaken by Lofquist and Harmon. This research identified 16 compelling claims of factually innocent executions post-Furman and provided brief vignettes describing each case. The chapter also focuses on the factors that have been traditionally identified by prior research as causal factors that are related to wrongful convictions. These include perjury of witnesses, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, racial bias, faulty forensic evidence, mistaken eyewitness identification, and false confessions.
