Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility

Preventing Wrongful Convictions

Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, and Television Broadcasts:

• Study of Wrongful Convictions Raises Questions Beyond DNA - The New York Times (July 23, 2007). Explore the factors known to cause wrongful convictions, presented by The New York Times.
• The Wrong Man - The Atlantic Monthly (Nov. 1999). Read about patterns of prosecutorial and police misconduct, inept legal representation, false confessions, and mistaken eyewitness identifications in several cases in which innocent criminal defendants were sentenced to death, and then exonerated.

Reports and Reform Efforts:

• Achieving Justice: Freeing the Innocent, Convicting the Guilty - American Bar Association (2006). Review the report prepared by the ABA Ad Hoc Innocence Committee to Ensure the Integrity of the Criminal Process, focusing on factors known to cause wrongful convictions and analyzing proposed reforms.
• Lessons Not Learned - Innocence Project (2007). Learn about the wrongful convictions in New York that have been overturned by DNA evidence.

Journal Articles:

• All Eyes on Us: A Comparative Critique of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission - (Jerome M. Maiatico '09) Duke Law Journal, Vol. 56, p. 1345 (2007).

Erroneous Eyewitness Identifications

Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, and Television Broadcasts:

• Eyewitness: How Accurate is Visual Memory? - CBS News 60 Minutes (2009). View a must-see report on the flaws of eyewitness identification, including interviews with Professors Gary Wells and Elizabeth Loftus.
• Eyewitness IDs Don't Always Mean Justice - National Public Radio (2009). Listen to a conversation between Slate.com senior editor Dahlia Lithwick and National Public Radio's Madeleine Brand, discussing the reliability of police lineups and eyewitness accounts.
• Frontline: What Jennifer Saw - PBS Frontline. Explore a PBS series special report examining how eyewitness error contributes to wrongful convictions through an in-depth case study of Ronald Cotton, who was cleared of a rape conviction by DNA evidence after serving nearly 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Reports and Reform Efforts:

• Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement - U.S. Department of Justice (1999). Explore the eyewitness identification guidelines recommended for use by law enforcement officials by a group of 34 seasoned professionals in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice.
• When Our Eyes Deceive Us. - Newsweek (Mar. 23, 2009). Read an article describing the failures of eyewitness identification that have lead to widespread reforms.
• North Carolina Adopts Lineup Reforms - Raleigh News & Observer (2007). Learn about the eyewitness identification procedures presently required of law enforcement officials under North Carolina law.

False Confessions

Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, and Television Broadcasts:

• The Case for Videotaping Interrogations - Los Angeles Times (Oct. 24, 2008). Learn how a suspect's false confession to a murder affected a seasoned police officer's understanding of false confessions.
• False Confessions - Washington Post (2001). Read a series of articles in the Washington Post exploring the question of why people confess to crimes that they did not commit.

Reports and Reform Efforts:

• False Confessions - Innocence Project. Learn about the role and prevalence of false confessions in wrongful convictions.

Journal Articles:

• The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-DNA World - (Steven A. Drizin & Richard A. Leo) North Carolina Law Review, Vol. 82, p. 891 (2004). Explore the findings of a study of 125 recent cases of proven interrogation-induced false confessions, questioning how these cases were treated by officials in the criminal justice system.

Jailhouse Informants and Other Unreliable Witnesses

Reports and Reform Efforts:

• How Snitch Testimony Sent Randy Steidl and Other Innocent Americans to Death Row - Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University (2005). Explore the problem of snitch testimony and learn how the use of snitch testimony has contributed to the conviction of innocent defendants.

Junk Forensic Science

Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, and Television Broadcasts:

• Plugging Holes in the Science of Forensics - New York Times (May 12, 2009).

Reports and Reform Efforts:

• Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward - National Academy of Sciences (2009). Review the conclusions and proposals of National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council in its recent groundbreaking report.

Journal Articles:

• Invalid Forensic Science Testimony and Wrongful Convictions - (Brandon L. Garrett & Peter J. Neufeld) Virginia Law Review, Vol. 95, p. 1 (2009).

Prosecutorial Misconduct

Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, and Television Broadcasts:

• "Killer Instincts" - (Jeffrey Toobin) - New Yorker (Jan. 17, 2005).

Journal Articles:

• The Prosecutor and the Press: Lessons (Not) Learned from the Mike Nifong Debacle - (R. Michael Cassidy) Journal of Law & Contemporary Problems, Vol. 71, p. 67 (2008).
• Reining in the Minister of Justice: Prosecutorial Oversight and the Superseder Power - (Abby L. Dennis '08) Duke Law Journal, Vol. 57, p. 131 (2007).

Suggestive Interview Tactics and Unreliable Memories

Newspaper Articles, Magazine Articles, and Television Broadcasts:

• But Sweetie, You Love Lima Beans - New York Times (Aug. 31, 2004). Read about a unique study of false memories conducted by psychologists in California and Washington.

Journal Articles:

• Good Enough for Government Work: The Constitutional Duty to Preserve Forensic Interviews of Child Victims - (Lucy S. McGough) Journal of Law & Contemporary Problems, Vol. 65, p. 179 (2002). Explore the assertion that videotaping of forensic interviews of child victims is constitutionally mandated by fundamental fairness under the Due Process Clause.
• Our Changeable Memories: Legal and Practical Implications - (Elizabeth F. Loftus) Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, Vol. 4 (Mar. 2003).
• Why Children's Suggestibility Remains a Serious Concern - (Amye R. Warren & Dorothy F. Marsil) Journal of Law & Contemporary Problems, Vol. 65, p. 127 (2002). Review a survey of research pertaining to children's eyewitness memory and suggestibility and iterates six specific dilemmas that remain unresolved.

North Carolina Directories, Encyclopedias, and Maps

• Map of North Carolina Counties - Review map and quantitative county data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

North Carolina Courts, Criminal Law, and Legal Research Links

• North Carolina State Constitution - View the North Carolina State Constitution.
• North Carolina General Statutes - Explore North Carolina's statutes and session laws.
• North Carolina Cases - Opinions in cases from 1997 to present for the North Carolina Supreme Court, and 1996 to the present for the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
• North Carolina Criminal Law blog  - Read discussions about North Carolina criminal law and policy by faculty from the UNC School of Government.
• North Carolina State Court System - Review North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions, judicial district information and background on court processes, structure and organization.
• North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts - Access North Carolina court forms, local courts, and court schedules.
• Map of North Carolina Superior Court Districts
• Map of North Carolina District Court Districts

North Carolina State Government

• Encyclopedia of the State Government of North Carolina - Learn about the structure of the North Carolina State Government, including the names of all individuals currently holding positions within the government.
• North Carolina General Assembly - Track bills, find and communicate with North Carolina State House and Senate representatives, and follow meetings and issues before the General Assembly.
• Office of the Governor - View North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue's official website, featuring current issues in focus, public policy, news, public events and contact information..
• The Governor's Crime Commission - Review the legislative and policy agenda promulgated by the chief advisory body to the Governor and the Secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
• North Carolina Sheriffs' Association - Access a directory of North Carolina's 100 Sheriffs, as well as legislative reports detailing legislation that is of special interest to law enforcement officers and criminal justice professionals in the state.
• North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation - Learn about the entity charged with assisting local law enforcement with a wide variety of investigations, including homicides, missing persons cases, robberies, and property crimes.

North Carolina Criminal Justice Organizations and Services

• National Criminal Justice Reference Service - Access federally funded justice and substance abuse publications and products.
• North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services - Learn about the entity charged with overseeing the provision of legal representation to indigent defendants and others entitled to counsel under North Carolina law.
• North Carolina Advocates for Justice - Learn about opportunities for legislative and public education programming aimed at achieving a more fair, accessible and just judicial system.
• North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services - Explore resources available to inmates in the North Carolina Department of Corrections, ranging from advice about prisoners' legal rights to representation in litigation in state and federal court.
• The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence - Learn about the advocacy efforts of the organization created by the Innocence Projects at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Duke University Law Schools to coordinate the activities of all of the law school-based Innocence Projects in North Carolina.

North Carolina Corrections

• North Carolina Department of Corrections - Learn about the history of corrections, prison program services, and restorative justice.
• Division of Prisons - View a comprehensive index of links to the web pages of all correctional facilities in North Carolina.
• Map of North Carolina Prison Locations - Learn the location and custody level of each prison in North Carolina's five geographic regions.
• North Carolina Prison Addresses - View a comprehensive list of the mailing addresses for all prison facilities in North Carolina.
• North Carolina Inmate Search - Search by name or ID number for public information on North Carolina inmates, probationers or parolees since 1972.

North Carolina Law Enforcement

• North Carolina Police Departments - Click on the name of a county for contact information for the police departments in the area.
• North Carolina Sheriffs' Directory - Click on a county on the North Carolina map for information about the county and Sheriff.

North Carolina News and Media

• The Asheville Citizen Times
• The Charlotte Observer
• The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City)
• The Durham Herald-Sun
• The Fayetteville Observer
• The News & Record (Greensboro)
• The Hickory Daily Record
• The Jacksonville Daily News
• The News & Observer (Raleigh)
• The Star-News (Wilmington)
• The Winston-Salem Journal
• North Carolina News (Combined) - Search a general database of North Carolina news sources.

North Carolina Statistics

• North Carolina Office of Research and Planning - Analyzes and publishes statistics relating to North Carolina corrections policy and practices.

Nationwide Criminal Justice Organizations

• Centurion Ministries - Learn about the secular non-profit organization devoted to the vindication of those who are completely innocent of the crimes for which they have been unjustly convicted and imprisoned for life or death.
• The Innocence Network - Browse the archive of briefs on post-conviction innocence claims endorsed by an international affiliation of organizations providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted and working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions. There is a list of member organizations here.
• The Innocence Project - Learn about the national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
• The Justice Project - Explore profiles, reports, and studies detailing the primary causes of wrongful convictions and the reforms needed to prevent them.
• The North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence - Learn about the advocacy efforts of the organization created by the Innocence Projects at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Duke University Law Schools to coordinate the activities of all of the law school-based Innocence Projects in North Carolina.
• Truth in Justice - An educational non-profit organization formed to heighten public awareness of wrongful convictions.
• Witness to Innocence - An anti-death penalty advocacy organization led by exonerated death row prisoners.
• The Innocence Project at The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University

Criminal Justice Clearinghouses and Databases

• Articles About False Arrests, Convictions and Imprisonments - The New York Times - View consistently updated news related to wrongful convictions, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
• Criminal Justice "Cybrary" - Reference a directory of resources pertaining to a broad range of criminal justice topics.
• Criminal Justice Programming - PBS Frontline - View PBS Frontline's program profiling four compelling cases where DNA evidence has been ignored, discounted, or kept secret.
• Famous Trials - View accounts, maps, photos, transcript excerpts and other materials relating to over 56 famous trials.
• National Archive of Criminal Justice Data - Explore research and quantitative data in criminal justice and criminology.
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstract Database - View collection of more than 200,000 resources on topics such as criminal justice, juvenile justice, and substance abuse.
• Wrongful Conviction Websites - Access a large number of links to national and state innocence project websites

Nationwide Justice System Information and Statistics

• Federal Constitution, Statutes and Legislative Information - View the Federal Constitution, statutes and codes, as well as bills, hearings, reports and other material from and about the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
• Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports - Explore a comprehensive database of statistics relating to crime in the United States.
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service - Federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.
• Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics - Access Bureau of Justice statistics from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States.
• United States Bureau of Justice Statistics - Information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.