Newspaper Article Archive of
West Seattle Herald

By Amanda Knox

International Wrongful Conviction Day celebrates its third anniversary on Tuesday, October 4th. In honor of that, here’s a layman’s crash course in the causes of wrongful conviction, and a brief introduction to the Innocence Movement.

The Causes
Wrongful convictions are not some weird anomaly. Studies estimate that between 2.3 and 5% of people currently incarcerated are actually innocent. The causes of wrongful conviction are well-documented and stem from systemic problems. They are:

1) Inadequate defense

It would be nice if the simple fact of your innocence were enough to protect you from having to face criminal charges. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Time and again, innocent people are forced to stand trial, and their futures depend not so much on the fact of their innocence as on how well their lawyers make a case for their innocence. When an overworked or incompetent lawyer fails to make the case, an innocent person will be wrongfully convicted.

2) Invalid forensic evidence

read more