DPIC analysis: causes of false beliefs (2023)

The most common causes of wrongful death penalty convictions: Official misconduct and perjury or false accusation

Many factors contribute to false convictions, and capital punishment cases are no different. But the most recent dataNational Relief Registrypoints to two factors as the most common causes of wrongful convictions in death penalty cases: misconduct and perjury or false accusation. As of May 31, 2017, the registry reports that official misconduct contributed to 571 of the 836 murder waivers, 68.3%, most often in combination with perjury or false accusation, and also contributed to 68.3% of the Homicide exemptions provided. According to the record, nearly a quarter of murder acquittals (203, 24.3%) had false witness identification as well as false or misleading forensic evidence (194, 23.2%), and more than a fifth had confessions. false or fabricated prior to discharge. (182, 21.8%). registration listsinsufficient legal representation in courtas a contributing factor in more than a quarter (218, 26.1%) of these manslaughter convictions.

Two reports issued by the National Exemption Registry on March 7, 2017,relief in 2016YRace and False Beliefs in the United States, provide continuing evidence of the role of misconduct in the illicit capital charge, and suggest a link between the defendant's race and the misconduct. The Registry's annual discharge report revealed a record 166 dismissals in 2016 and a record number of dismissals related to police or prosecutorial misconduct. Fifty-four of the dismissals in 2016, nearly a third, related to manslaughter convictions. At least 13 of these cases involved misuse of the death penalty, meaning the death penalty played a role in nearly a quarter of the 54 murder exonerations in 2016. Each of these wrongful convictions involved misconduct or perjury/false accusations, and eleven (84.6%) of them involved both. The National Register Race Report documents that "the official misconduct rate in homicide acquittals involving black defendants is significantly higher than that involving white defendants, 76% compared to 63%". is higher: 87% of black death row inmates were victims of official misconduct, compared to 67% of white death row inmates.

The Death Penalty Information Center investigated ourrescue databaseand compared it to National Exoneration Registry data on death row exonerations over the past decade (between 2007 and April 2017) to identify the most common factors contributing to wrongful convictions and death sentences for more recent exonerates. Data from the 34 cases in the NRE database^[1]shows that illegitimate capital processes were more than just mistakes. Each of these cases involved a combination of official misconduct, perjury or false accusation, or false or misleading forensic evidence; and more than three quarters (26 cases, 76.5%) involved at least two of these factors. Less than a tenth of the cases (3, 8.8%) concerned a single illicit motive. 91.2% (31 cases) had multiple contributing factors and almost half (16 cases, 47.1%) had three or more contributing causes.

By category, the leading causes of wrongful convictions in death row discharges between 2007 and April 2017 were:

• Official improbity (28 cases, 82.4%)
• Perjury or false accusation (26 cases, 76.5%)
• False or misleading forensic evidence (11 cases, 32.4%)
• Inadequate legal defense (8 cases, 23.5%)
• False or fabricated confession (6 cases, 17.6%)
• Identification of false eyewitnesses (4 cases, 11.8%)

DPIC Exemption Database with National Registry of Exemption Causes (wo verfügbar)

* Non-unanimous jury recommendation
** judicial precedence
-z absolution, not in NRE

Official Misconduct: Processing of Illicit Capital and 2016 Relief Data

As noted above, 2016 data from the National Registry of Excuses included evidence that the death penalty played a role in nearly a quarter of the 54 murder excusations in 2016.

NRE exoneration data show at least 13 exonerations that involved misuse of the death penalty. In at least six of the manslaughter convictions, prosecutors sought the death penalty at trial. In another, an innocent defendant pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. And at least six other exonerations were the result of witnesses falsely implicating innocent defendants after police threatened the witness or a family member with the death penalty unless the witness cooperated with the investigation.

There have been at least six unfair capital trials in which prosecutors sought death but the jury awarded life sentences:

• Eddie Bolden, IL: Contributing factors: false witness identification, official misconduct, inadequate legal defense;
• keith harward, VA: Contributing Factors: False witness identification, false or misleading forensic evidence, perjury or false accusation, official misconduct;
• marcus maxon, IL: Contributing factors: false confession, perjury or false accusation, official misconduct;
• Charles Palmer, IL: Contributing Factors: False or misleading forensic evidence, perjury or false accusation;
• kevin siehl, PA: Contributing Factors: False or misleading forensic evidence, perjury or false accusation, official misconduct, inadequate legal defense;
• Antonio Wright, PA: Contributing factors: false confession, perjury or false accusation, official misconduct.

There has been at least one case where the unjust threat of the death penalty prompted an innocent defendant to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty:

• Pablo Gatling, NY: Contributing Factors: False witness identification, official misconduct.

There were at least three other cases involving six people exonerated in 2016 in which wrongful conviction was obtained by threatening witnesses that they or their loved ones could face the death penalty if the witness did not cooperate:

• Carlos HerzogYLavell Jones, NY: Contributing Factors: False confession, perjury or false accusation, official misconduct;
• johnny klein, NC: Contributing factors: perjury or false accusation, official misconduct;
• norfolk 4(3 of them—jose pau,Derek Tice, Ydaniel williams– were exonerated in 2016), VA: Contributing Factors – false confession, perjury or false accusation, official misconduct.

Each of these wrongful convictions involved official misconduct or a false statement/accusation, and eleven (84.6%) of them involved both.

Race and official misconduct in murder cases

This is reported by the National Registry of ExemptionsRace and False Beliefs in the United Statesshows that 87% of blacks on death row were victims of official misconduct, compared to 67% of whites on death row. Official misconduct is one of the most difficult and time-consuming pieces of evidence to uncover, so it is not surprising that recent exonerations, many of which lasted two decades or more, provide ever clearer evidence of racial effects. NRE data show that 20 of the last 21 wrongfully convicted African Americans (95%) exonerated were victims of official misconduct, compared with 8 of the last 12 white death row inmates (67%).

The National Register reports that these racial disparities are "in large part" the result of police misconduct. The registry reports "a modest difference" in rates of prosecutor misconduct among death row prosecutors, with prosecutor misconduct occurring in 59% of black death row exonerations, compared to 53% of black death row exonerations. death row being white. However, "a big difference in the rate of police misconduct" was reported: 59% for blacks on death row, compared to 44% for whites. The Register reports that “[t]he high rate of police misconduct in murder cases involving black suspects is reflected in the type of misconduct that occurs. Withholding exculpatory evidence, the most common type, is primarily a form of prosecution misconduct; there is relatively little difference in frequency by race…. On the other hand, witness tampering is "almost exclusively committed by police officers" and is nearly twice as common among black suspects of murder.

Comparison of the factors that contribute to the exoneration of homicide with those of other types of crimes

National Registry data show that official misconduct and false confessions are much more common in acquitting homicide than in exonerating other types of crimes, and exonerating homicide in addition to child sexual abuse is much more likely. in other types of cases. False eyewitness identifications and false or misleading forensic evidence are as prevalent in homicide cases as they are in most other types of cases. The exception is exonerations in sexual assault cases, where misidentification and false or misleading forensic evidence are significantly more common.

footnotes

¹The National Registry does not include in its exoneration database the three Florida death row appeal acquittals that occurred during this period. To be included in its exoneration database, the NRE requires ex post discovery of evidence of innocence, which is not the case when the conviction of a death row inmate is overturned and a new trial is prevented because there was not enough evidence. to prove his innocence. phrase at the beginning. instance. Acquittal on appeal alone is sufficient to be placed on the DPIC exemption list.

²While no death row inmates were fully exonerated in 2016, the 2016 data from the National Registry of Indictments included evidence of at least 13 cases in which the death penalty was used illegally, either through illegal capital criminal proceedings, where (1 ) the defendants were convicted but avoided the death penalty at the time of sentencing, (2) the defendants made false confessions to avoid the death penalty at trial, or (3) the witnesses gave false testimony after being threatened that they or their loved ones would face the death penalty if they did. Do not cooperate with law enforcement.

—Robert Dunham, CEO (May 31, 2017)

to use:Nearly half of the cases contained more than one cause of wrongful conviction. Therefore, the total number of cases in the table is greater than 86.

In 2001 orCenter for False Beliefsat Northwestern Law School, he reviewed the cases of 86 death row inmates. They found a number of reasons why innocent people are wrongfully convicted of deaths. Included reasons:

• witness errordue to confusion or memory failure.
• government misconductBoth by the police and by the Public Prosecutor's Office
• junk science -mishandled evidence or use of unqualified "experts"
• espionage statementoften given in exchange for a reduced sentence
• false confessions -mental illness or disability and torture by the police
• Others -Rumors, dubious evidence, etc.

The Center for Wrongful Convictions report found that among these past cases, eyewitness error was the most common factor in death row exonerations.

For more information on the grounds for illegal convictions, see:

Generally:

• Sentencing Innocents: Wrong Path or Systemic Problem?von Rodney Uphoff, University of Missouri School of Law
• ”Relief in the United States, 1989 to 2003“, von Samuel Gross, et al., Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Bd. 95, num. 2, 2005

Misconduct by the Government:

• government misconductvom Project Innocence
• official misconductvom Center for Wrongful Convictions

Finger testimony:

• the snitch systemvom Center for Wrongful Convictions
• Incentives for whistleblowersvom Project Innocence

Others:

• insufficient defensevom Project Innocence

witness error:

• Incorrect eyewitness identificationvom Project Innocence
• eyewitness errorvom Center for Wrongful Convictions

junk science:

• forensic misconductvom Project Innocence
• Unreliable and limited science.vom Project Innocence
• whistleblowers/spiesvom Project Innocence

false confessions:

• False confessions or admissionsvom Project Innocence
• false confessionsvom Center for Wrongful Convictions

For information on the National Registry of Exoneration on Cause of Conviction in cases of exonerated persons sentenced to death, click hereHere.