The Los Angeles Times published an opinion today by Barry Scheck, co-director, and Karen A. Newirth, litigation fellow, of the Innocence Project, that underscores why L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck is wrong in opposing adoption of the best practice of blind administration in police lineups.
The misidentification of an innocent person as the perpetrator has contributed in nearly 75 percent of DNA-proven wrongful convictions. Brandon Garrett notes in his book Convicting the Innocent – Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong a less-known, revealing statistic: Among DNA-proven wrongful convictions in which misidentification was a factor, 36 percent of those misidentified were fingered by more than one witness. This supports what Continue reading
Wrongful Convictions Blog 