Research on the exonerations of innocent people has identified many of the primary causes of wrongful convictions. Based on these findings, The Justice Project has constructed a national agenda for reform designed to eliminate common, preventable errors that undermine the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.
TJP’s Reform Agenda
- Improving Eyewitness Identification Procedures
- Electronic Recording of Custodial Interrogations
- Improving Standards for Admissibility of In-custody Informant Testimony
- Expanding Discovery in Criminal Cases
- Improving Forensic Evidence Testing Procedures
- Expanding Post-Conviction DNA Testing
- Improving Prosecutorial Accountability
- Ensuring Standards for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Capital Cases
The Justice Project Policy Reviews
To facilitate dialogue among local law enforcement agencies, policymakers, practitioners and others, The Justice Project develops and distributes policy reviews outlining recommendations for procedural improvements, the latest scientific research, pertinent case studies and model state policies. By presenting many successful methods employed in local jurisdictions, as well as the science behind them, these reviews provide recommendations that will enhance the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.
Currently, policy reviews are available on these reforms:
- Eyewitness Identification: A Policy Review details the model lineup protocol and the science behind it, as well as the experiences of jurisdictions that have adopted the more accurate procedures.
- Electronic Recording of Custodial Interrogations: A Policy Review details a model policy as well as background on false confessions and information on the many jurisdictions that currently record interrogations.
- In-custody Informant Testimony: A Policy Review outlines a model policy and recommendations for procedural improvements for the standards of admissibility of jailhouse snitch testimony.
- Expanded Discovery in Criminal Cases: A Policy Review offers recommendations and solutions on the best practices and methods for improving access to evidence through expanded discovery and enhancing the reliability of outcomes in criminal trials.
- Increasing Access to Post-Conviction DNA Testing: A Policy Review provides an overview of problems with current post-conviction DNA testing laws, offers solutions to these problems, including a model policy for states.
- Improving the Practice and Use of Forensic Science: A Policy Review provides an overview of the problems plaguing the use of forensic science in criminal trials and offers solutions, including greater oversight and procedures to reduce inadvertent bias in forensic analysis.
Protecting the Innocent: Opportunities for Reform
Kirk Bloodsworth, the first person sentenced to death row to be exonerated by DNA evidence, is a Program Officer for The Justice Project. The errors that led to Kirk’s wrongful conviction are not unique to his case. His story is just one of the hundreds of similar stories of wrongful convictions that have occurred in the United States.
Kirk’s struggle serves as a powerful illustration of the systemic failures within the criminal justice system that can and do lead to wrongful convictions of innocent defendants. Significant progress can be made to increase fairness and accuracy in our criminal justice system.
Protecting the Innocent: Opportunities for Reform (pdf) addresses the systemic problems that played a large part in Kirk’s wrongful conviction and the opportunities to prevent them in the future.
