Abstract
The article looks at differences between cold case reviews and investigations into alleged wrongful convictions in England and Wales. Obstacles are in place post-conviction, making the reinvestigation of an alleged wrongful conviction difficult. This jurisdiction has fallen behind the US, where post-conviction access is better and some District Attorneys’ offices even collaborate with innocence projects in conviction review units. It seems counterproductive for the criminal justice system to have such obstacles in place. A wrongful conviction is an event which should never happen, but clearly does, and the criminal justice system needs to accept that it is not perfect. This is common in other fields, such as within the National Health Service (NHS) where so called ‘never events’ are acknowledged.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 24-37 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Cold Case Review |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Mar 2017 |
Keywords
- cold case reviews
- investigations into alleged wrongful convictions
- post-conviction access
- post-conviction testing
- conviction integrity
