“Another day, another wrongful conviction uncovered,” begins The Buffalo News editorial chastising the New York Senate for failing to follow the Assembly in passing a bill earlier this year that would have required best practices in criminal justice procedures. It comes in the wake of evidence of another wrongful conviction—as reported by The New York Times here and here and this blog here—this time of five individuals in the murder of a cab driver in the Bronx, 15 years after their criminal trials.
In spite of a sad record of wrongful convictions, the state, says the editorial, has “a seemingly willful determination to do nothing about it.”
Changing lineup procedures and recording interrogations would reduce the damaging impact of two recurring contributors to wrongful conviction: misidentification and false confessions. But passing legislation to require best practices in criminal justice procedures and protocols has been a tough battle in New York and other states.
The editorial emphasizes an important point sometimes overlooked by the public, which may view wrongful conviction as an anecdotal rather than a systemic issue: Embracing best practices in criminal justice is a matter of public safety. “Women in Erie County were murdered because the wrong man was convicted of the Delaware Park rapes. While (Anthony) Capozzi’s life was being stolen from him in prison, the actual rapist, Altemio Sanchez, was graduating from rape to murder, as the Bike Path Killer.”
For advocates of best practices in criminal justice, the tide is turning when newspapers speak out and urge political action.
The American public is awakening to the need to improve our criminal justice system. Many ask how to help. Share your concern with neighbors and friends. Awareness of the problem and recommended improvements is key, because VOTERS DRIVE POLICY CHANGE. The Buffalo News has done an important public service in championing this vital safety and human rights issue.
Wrongful Convictions Blog 
Until we can clone the likes of Nancy Petro , Jim Petro, Esq. , Mark Godsey, Esq. , the Dallas DA , Martin Yant , and many others ; I am not holding my breath for any jurisdiction to RAPIDLY enhance the rule of law in the criminal justice arena .
☺ I already have a clone , and he was deported to the west coast ☺
OOPS. Forgot Phil Locke .
Chocolate serum level is too low ☺
As I watch more and more parents and caregivers convicted on the basis of a flawed model of shaken baby syndrome, I can only hope that observers outside of Buffalo will wake up to the problem and demand reform. Coercive interrogation is one key problem, and the inability of most families to mount a defense against sincere but misguided medical opinion is another. I would prefer the change come from a prosecutorial desire for real justice, but it might have to be driven by the outrage of the countless families shattered by these cases.
Reblogged this on Upside Down.