The Justice Project has worked with Georgia-based partners since 2003, providing lobbying, communications, and research support for the enactment and funding of a new statewide indigent defense system. We are now working to broaden our partnerships and to provide communications and research support, not only for the successful implementation of the statewide system and improvement of indigent defense services, but also for other critical criminal justice reform proposals.
Current Efforts in Georgia
Calvin Johnson, Robert Clark, and Willie "Pete" Williams are just three of the wrongly-convicted who languished for years in Georgia prisons for crimes they did not commit. Faulty eyewitness identification – a primary factor in each of these cases – is the leading cause of wrongful convictions both in Georgia and nationally. Another major factor in wrongful convictions, in Georgia and elsewhere, is that of false confessions due to problematic interrogation procedures or practices - a problem perhaps illustrated best by the tragic Amy Yates case.
The Justice Project is consulting with various stakeholders in Georgia to expand its work in the state to support implementation of procedural reforms to the criminal justice system that reduce the risk of wrongful convictions and death sentences in these two areas:
Eyewitness Identification Reform
The Georgia Legislature completed its 2007 session on April 20, 2007. The Justice Project supported House Resolution 352, which was successfully enacted to create the House Study Committee on Eyewitness Identification Procedures. HR 352 was introduced by Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Dekalb) to allow for a process for the legislature to thoroughly explore Georgia's procedures for eyewitness identification. This comes in the wake of Willie O. "Pete" Williams' exoneration in January after more than 21 years in prison on a wrongful rape conviction has raised the issue of eyewitness error for the second year. All six of the men whose convictions have been thrown out by DNA evidence in Georgia were prosecuted based on eyewitness testimony. The resolution anticipates that the legislature will move forward with substantive reform next year, based on the work of the study committee.
Electronic Recording of Interrogations
We also continue to support House Bill 525, requiring the electronic recording of custodial interrogations. This bill did not complete its route through the House prior to the Georgia Legislature's 30th legislative day, or "cross-over day," on March 27, 2007. Any bill that does not pass at least one chamber of the state legislature prior to cross-over day is not considered further during the current year's proceedings; however, the 2008 session is a continuation of the 2007 session, and we anticipate that House Bill 525 will continue to be considered at that time.
Ultimately, it is in the best interest of all parties – the defense, the prosecution, and, most importantly, the public – that strong safeguards exist to protect against wrongful convictions and reduce the number of convictions overturned on appeal. By addressing the underlying problems that contribute to wrongful convictions, Georgia will save lives by ensuring that the right people – and only the right people – are convicted the first time.
To assist states with these urgently needed reforms, The Justice Project has developed comprehensive policy reviews containing recommendations and model legislation based on decades of peer-reviewed scientific and empirical research.
Related Studies:
American Bar Association: Georgia Death Penalty Assessment
The American Bar Association's Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Team released this report highlighting the failures and successes of Georgia's death penalty system. The team concludes "our research establishes that at this point in time, the State cannot ensure that fairness and accuracy are the hallmark of every case in which the death penalty is sought" and recommends a moratorium until these problems are adequately addressed.
January 30, 2006
If You Cannot Afford a Lawyer: A Report on Georgia's Failed Indigent Defense System
This report by the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) attests that poor people accused of crimes in Georgia continue to face the judicial process without - or with inadequate - legal representation. The study provides anecdotal evidence of people languishing in Georgia jails or facing trials without their constitutionally required lawyer, and details the many ways in which the system is broken. The report, based on three years of defendant interviews, courtroom observations and case research, is an update to the SCHR's initial study Promises to Keep: Achieving Fairness and Equal Justice for the Poor in Criminal Cases (November 2000). The report emphasizes the urgent need for an overhaul of indigent defense funding and delivery, and supports findings released in December by the Chief Justice's Commission on Indigent Defense and The Spangenberg Group.
February 19, 2003
