Is Wrongful Conviction a Myth?

Marvin Zalman, Wayne State University

Abstract

This paper explores law-centric reactions to the innocence movement that perceive challenges to the adversary model of justice. The due process critique, grounded in the defense lawyer’s ethic that innocence is irrelevant to providing the best defense, is concerned that traditional protections for innocent defendants will be weakened. Innocence skeptics argue that factual innocence is rare and that talking about it undermines public trust and the system’s ability to fight crime. Although some of these criticisms may be overblown (regarding the threat to adversarial process), wrong (concerning wrongful conviction incidence), or irrelevant (about effective crime reduction), studying these reactions to the innocence movement sharpens our understanding and helps us perceive it primarily as a policy initiative. Although led by lawyers, the movement draws on extra-legal and scientific methodologies for proposed reforms. As the innocence movement’s initial period of growth comes to an end, it will have to rely more on public policy modes than on adversarial stories to achieve structural reforms. The future direction and success of a mature innocence movement is unsure. Meaningful system reform, however, will require collaboration with other system actors, especially police and prosecutors, and the adoption of criminological and scientific, rather than exclusively legal, methods. Such collaboration may deepen or possibly abate the anxieties of those adhering to the traditional adversarial process.