Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate School students.
Wrongful convictions often include two types of errors, an innocent person is punished, and a guilty person escapes justice. In this class, we will explore how such errors occur by focusing on both investigation and adjudication practices. We will then apply what we have learned about criminal procedure to analyze individual wrongful conviction cases. This is an interactive course. Students will review case intake documents from a cooperating legal organization and help inform their case decisions. We will also work with the National Registry of Exonerations to draft case profiles for people who have already been exonerated. Ultimately, we will weigh the challenges of upholding defendants' rights without compromising public safety or producing additional errors.
Outcomes: Evaluate criminal cases for potential errors, both episodic and systemic; Describe defendants' due process rights particularly under the 5th and 6th amendments and how these rights relate to criminal procedure in practice; Explain judicial opinions and their ability to remedy wrongful convictions; Identify the limitations of the appellate process and post-conviction review; Produce written content of publishable quality, with a special focus on accuracy and fact checking.
Wrongful convictions often include two types of errors, an innocent person is punished, and a guilty person escapes justice. In this class, we will explore how such errors occur by focusing on both investigation and adjudication practices. We will then apply what we have learned about criminal procedure to analyze individual wrongful conviction cases. This is an interactive course. Students will review case intake documents from a cooperating legal organization and help inform their case decisions. We will also work with the National Registry of Exonerations to draft case profiles for people who have already been exonerated. Ultimately, we will weigh the challenges of upholding defendants' rights without compromising public safety or producing additional errors.
Outcomes: Evaluate criminal cases for potential errors, both episodic and systemic; Describe defendants' due process rights particularly under the 5th and 6th amendments and how these rights relate to criminal procedure in practice; Explain judicial opinions and their ability to remedy wrongful convictions; Identify the limitations of the appellate process and post-conviction review; Produce written content of publishable quality, with a special focus on accuracy and fact checking.