Saturday, September 8, 2007

Stop Wrongful Convictions in California

The three most common causes of wrongful conviction are mistaken eyewitness identification, false confessions, and false testimony by informants. Modern DNA evidence has proven that innocent people are sent to prison for crimes they did not commit far more often than we think. But we can change that.

The California State Senate created the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice to review the causes of wrongful conviction and wrongful execution in California.

The Commission has issued three interim reports recommending legislative changes to prevent the most common causes of wrongful conviction in California: mistaken eyewitness identification, false confessions and the use of jailhouse informants.

Three bills have been introduced to implement the Commission's recommended reforms:

Senate Bill 511 (Alquist) will require the electronic recording of police interrogation in cases involving homicides and other serious felonies.

Senate Bill 756 (Ridley-Thomas) will require the appointment of a task force to draft guidelines for the conduct of police line-ups and photo arrays to increase the accuracy of eyewitness identifications.

Senate Bill 609 (Romero) will require the corroboration of testimony by jailhouse informants.

The California Commission on the Fair Administration a group of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and defense attorneys, has recommended all three reforms.

These reforms will help protect the innocent and make sure the guilty are convicted.
Tell Governor Schwarzenegger to support bills aimed at eliminating wrongful conviction.
Update:Petition ended

Help End Wrongful Convictions - Support SB511, SB756, and
SB 609

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