Full Description
This book defines the differing concepts of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions and innocence in relation to the presumption of innocence and the rationing of justice. It compares inquisitorial systems, with examples from Europe, South America and Asia to adversarial systems. It contrasts England's focus on the miscarriage of justice and the remedial institutions of the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission, with the United States and China's narrower focus on proven factual innocence It highlights new laws enacted in India in 2023 that increase the risk of wrongful convictions, and details how the International Criminal Court has taken steps to reduce the risk of false guilty pleas that may have been accepted by previous international criminal courts. The book examines the roles of racist prejudice and gender stereotypes in wrongful convictions. It also examines false guilty pleas such as those in the Post Office scandal, as well as wrongful convictions for crimes that did not happen. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Contents
1. Introduction; 2. Miscarriages of Justice, Wrongful Convictions and Proven Innocence as Means of Rationing Justice; 3. The Challenges of Preventing the Common Immediate Causes of Wrongful Convictions; 4. Is There an Inquisitorial Advantage? The Challenges of False Guilty Pleas; 5. England: A Legal Focus on Miscarriages of Justice and Remedial Legislation; 6. The United States: A Populist Focus on Proven Innocence; 7. Racism and Prejudice; 8. Gender and Stereotypes; 9. China: Wrongful Conviction Washing?; 10. India: The Challenges of Wrongful Detention; 11. International Law: The Limits of Proven Innocence and Compensation; 12. Justice for Less or Justice for More?.
