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The Prosecutor As A Final Safeguard Against False Convictions: How Prosecutors Assist With Exoneration, Elizabeth Webster
The Prosecutor As A Final Safeguard Against False Convictions: How Prosecutors Assist With Exoneration, Elizabeth Webster
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
Prosecutors have helped secure an unprecedented number of recent exonerations. This development, combined with the rapid emergence of district attorney-initiated conviction integrity units (CIUs) raises several questions. How do prosecutors’ offices review postconviction innocence claims? How do they make decisions about the merits of those claims? How do CIU processes differ from non-CIU processes? This study examines the circumstances surrounding prosecutor-assisted exoneration cases through semi-structured interviews with 20 prosecutors and 19 defense attorneys. It draws from a sample of both CIU and non-CIU prosecutors, thereby enabling comparisons. Respondents were asked about their experiences and decision-making structures in specific, post-2005 exoneration …