A Vision for Justice: Report and Recommendations Regarding Wrongful Convictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia
The Innocence Commission for Virginia (ICVA), a joint project of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, the Administration Justice Program at George Mason University, and the Constitution Project, has issued a report examining eleven exonerations in Virginia and recommending reforms for preventing future wrongful convictions. The ICVA is only the second innocence commission in the United States and the one of the first groups to study a state’s exoneration cases. The report identifies common problems that led to these eleven wrongful convictions. It calls for reform and highlights measures in seven areas – eyewitness identification, interrogation, discovery, law enforcement investigation, scientific evidence, and defense practices – that would improve Virginia’s criminal justice system and offer the latest and best practices to law enforcement officers, courts, prosecutors, and defense counsel alike.
