Wrongful Convictions

I wanted to comment of a very thoughtful article by Adam Liptak in his “Sidebar” column in today’s New York Times. Read the original article: Study of Wrongful Convictions Raises Questions Beyond DNA
The thrust of the piece is that, despite authorities with differing opinions on exoneration and innocence (you can be exonerated by DNA but still be guilty), no one denies that, “We know very little about any aspect of false conviction. But a few general lessons can be drawn nonetheless,” he concludes, and they are these:

1. Black men are more likely to be convicted of rape than white men under the same fact patterns, especially if the victim was white.

2. Minors are more likely to falsely confess to murder than adults.

3. Defendants who maintain their innocence are more likely to be innocent.

4. The longer it takes to solve a crime the more likely the defendant is not guilty.

Everyone knows blacks are at a disadvantage in our criminal system. The surprise, to me at least, is that minors are also at a disadvantage. The last two ‘lessons’ are well known to the criminal defense bar but likely far less well known to the public at large.