What can we do?

It's the final week of the open online course I've been taking for the past two months or so, and they've centered this week around how we can change the current climate that fosters wrongful conviction, and also how we can right the wrongs already caused by our criminal justice system. I think these are important considerations and I'd like to share them with you all! After all, we've thus far talked a lot about how horrific wrongful conviction can be for its victims and what factors can lead to wrongful conviction, but an important question still remains: How can we begin to solve the epidemic of wrongful conviction? 

Education

The media should take a critical role in examining and bringing attention to wrongful conviction causes and proceedings. 

Individuals should promote awareness because too commonly the public likes to believe that wrongful conviction could not and does not happen. In order for us to seriously combat wrongful conviction, awareness is crucial. Throughout the process of spreading awareness, sharing the stories of exonerees is also critical. 

The public can play an important role in helping fund Innocence Projects. 

Clemency

There are some cases where a client is innocent, but legal pathways have been exhausted. For example, some individuals have been found innocent but remain in prison on technicalities (ie., they didn't file paperwork on time). In such cases, clemency is often the final option. Clemency is when a Governor officially pardons a prisoner. Oftentimes in order for clemency to be granted, lots of media and public attention and support is needed so that Governors are pressured to act. Public support is especially crucial for gathering signatures on petitions urging clemency.  

Death Penalty and the Innocence Movement 

In the context of the large number of exonerations of inmates serving time on death row, capital punishment is being reexamined in the context of its capacity for error.  Is it worth the risk having the death penalty as a standard policy if there is a very real possibility that the individual sentenced to death is actually innocent? 

Radley Balko writes for the Huffington Post in 2013: "In a report released last month, the Death Penalty Information Center found that 2 percent of counties, as well as being responsible for a majority of executions, can also claim credit for 56 percent of the current death row population. What's more, just 15 percent of U.S. counties account for all of the executions since 1976, according to the DPIC." To date, the Death Penalty Information Center lists 150 individuals who have been freed from death row since 1973. DNA was a substantial factor in 20 of these cases. See the full list here. 

Policy and Legal Implications 

The following list summarizes some policy changes that could help combat wrongful conviction:

1. Giving judges more discretion in the context of mandatory minimum sentencing (ex: Smarter Sentencing Act) 

2. Double-blind photo or suspect line-ups

a. We also must ensure that witnesses are told that the suspect may not be in a line-up when they are asked to identify using a line-up 

3. Video recording of witness interviews and suspect interrogations   

4. Mandatory and enforceable standards for evidence preservation

5. Bringing more attention to unique issues of race, ethnicity, class and how they impact criminal justice proceedings 

6. More efficient, easier systems of being released and compensated after the case has been overturned. 

7. Scrutiny of forensic science: only scientifically accepted and sound science should be admissible in criminal cases. Some examples of scientific methods that would not meet these standards include bite mark analysis, comparative hair analysis, shoe print analysis, etc. 

8. Ensuring that inmates have access to DNA testing when they claim innocence. 

9. Ensuring that rebuttal experts are more accessible to public defenders and defendants with limited resources.  

10. Ensuring adequate resources for public defenders' offices (especially resources for investigation).

11. Implementing government programs tasked with reviewing convictions (ex: Conviction Integrity Units). 

The list above is certainly not inclusive of all the things that can and should be to fight wrongful conviction in the U.S., and I would like to post an expanded list later. 

The Innocence Movement is an integral part of maintaining the "justice" part of the criminal justice system. If you want to get involved, there is a multitude of ways you can do so. From donating money, to holding a fundraiser, to contacting government officials, to volunteering technical expertise, to signing clemency petitions, to spreading awareness about wrongful conviction, to helping exonerees, to writing letters to the editor, grassroots initiatives are what keep the movement going and what can truly create lasting change. If you want to be involved but don't know how, let me know. 

Social Science and Social Change Conference at Northern Arizona University

I attended a day-long conference on Friday, March 6 put on by the Department of Sociology and Social Work at NAU. This conference featured a number of students and professors who shared their research relating to social science, justice, and change. A few of these presentations were connected to the field in which I’m researching, others did not have a direct connection with my research goals but nonetheless provided valuable insight into community-based research. Additionally, being able to see a number of research presentations helped me to guide my ideas about how I will structure my own research presentation at the end of this trimester. I’ve added my notes under the presentations that I thought were particularly relevant or interesting.

Seminar 1: Racial and National Identities and Conflicts

            “Perceptions of undocumented-oriented organizational policies in Flagstaff” by Breton Mackenzie, graduate student in Anthropology.

                        Important takeaways: recent immigration laws like SB1070 illicit control through fear by creating an atmosphere that reinforces discrimination against undocumented (and documented) Mexican-American immigrants. Fear of deportation can lead to lack of community participation and hesitance to use resources (ex: health resources).

            “Native American experiences with discrimination in reservation border towns” by Jeremy Ashley, graduate student in Applied Sociology.

                        Important takeaways: many Native Americans living in border towns face significant disadvantages through discrimination and prejudice. Some of this discrimination is manifested in the form of “racially motivated exclusion, racial stigmatization, discrimination at work and school, racially motivated threats and aggression, everyday discrimination, and discrimination in community places and settings.” Racism and discrimination are also widely internalized. In the reservation border town examined, Native Americans reported experiences with discrimination the most or second most widely (African Americans and Native Americans often reported similar frequency and severity of discriminatory experiences).

Seminar 2: Pedagogical Explorations

            “Place-based consciousness and social transformation: Perspectives from the Flagstaff STEM City” by B. Joby Hunt, graduate student in Anthropology.

            “Consciousness and social change” by Dr. Janine Schipper, Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Work.

                        Important takeaways: it is crucial that researchers identify the assumptions that they hold. Once commonly-held assumptions are realized, they can be critically examined and, if necessary, changed.

Keynote Address

            “Service Sociology”, Dr. Javier Treviño, Wheaton College.

                        Important takeaways: service sociology is defined by Dr. Treviño as “a sociology of social problems intended to ameliorate conditions of life for those in need of assistance, and to ensure and promote the welfare of the community. Motivated by care and compassion a service-oriented sociology is aimed at helping people meet their pressing social needs. As such, service sociology involves the application of sociological knowledge combined with the expression of humanitarian sentiment in neighborly service.” Specifically, service sociology must emphasize equality, justice, and neighborliness. Service sociology must be composed of facilitating actions, which require:

1.    Care and compassion

2.    Caution (due diligence)

3.    Efficiency and efficacy

4.    Adaptability

5.    Adequacy and sustainability (focus on the future)

6.    Non-maleficence

7.    Want for the action to occur

8.    Need for the action to occur

9.    The action must be ethical and humane

10. The action cannot encourage the recipient in wrong

11. The action cannot patronize (humility)

Service sociology must promote self-determination.  

Film Screening

            Workers on the Rise, presented by Dr. MichelleTéllez, documentary about the Arizona Worker Rights Center.  An amazing documentary about amazing work! Watch here.     

  

Seminar 3: Art and Culture

            “Underground sound in the land down under”, by Dr. Frederick Gooding, Jr., Assistant Professor, Ethnic Studies; Matthew Brandel, Corbin Jountti, Andrew Shadwick, and Bryantee Williams-Bailey, SBS students.

            “Everything but the funnel cake: Cultural expressions and the University of Puerto Rico student occupation of 2010” by Katherine Everhart, Instructor of Sociology.

            “Slam poetry and emerging indigenous identities” by Amanda Brand, graduate student in Applied Sociology.  

Seminar 4: Gender and Sexuality

            “Transgender outside the city: Trans Masculine identity and the non-metropolitan gender experience” by Lou Baker, graduate student in Applied Sociology.

            “From locked doors to locked screens: The implications of sexting as a gendered performance of sexuality and privacy” by Amanda Brand, graduate student in Applied Sociology.

            “Urfĭ marriage in Egypt” by Dr. Mohamed A. Mohamed, Assistant Professor of Sociology.  

Week 4: What happens after exoneration?

I've been talking a lot about the process of post-conviction litigation and subsequent exonerations, but there's an important question inherent in the nature of this discussion: after an exoneree has been freed, what happens to them? Where do they go? What do their lives look like? This week, I'd like to look at some of those questions with guidance from the course I've been taking on the Innocence Movement.

Lisa Roberts hugs defense attorney Steven Wax after being released from an Oregon prison. Lisa served 10 years on a manslaughter charge before she was exonerated. 

Lack of Assistance
After individuals are exonerated, the criminal justice system terminates its relationship with that individual. That means the individual is given no resources other than a used pair of clothes and shoes--not even a ride from the prison. Many exonerees are thus often released with no support, and are faced with finding shelter, securing a job, getting a drivers license and SSN, and other tasks in order to rebuild the life that was taken from them.

Lack of healthcare is huge issue for exonerees. Many are in desperate need of healthcare after poor prison care (dental, medical), and many more also need mental healthcare, often to address issues of post traumatic stress.

Many exonerees struggle to attain employment because although job applications ask if you've ever been convicted of a felony, they do not ask if you were subsequently exonerated or allow for any explanation. Therefore, in lots of cases, exonerees are automatically excluded from the job pool. Many exonerees also lack educational opportunities.

See the Statement on Exoneree Rights released by the Innocence Network here.

Compensation
Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia have wrongful conviction compensation statutes, but many of these statutes are toothless, and none of these statutes provide immediate relief. Furthermore, these statutes often do not adjust compensation for the amount of time that was served and instead use cap systems. Exonerees can pursue civil suits against the state and individuals responsible for their incarceration. However, these suits are difficult because they're time-consuming, expensive, and often many police officers, judges or prosecutors are granted immunity.

Compensation statutes differ in substance based on state. Some states offer money, others education. Compensation statutes also differ procedurally, insofar as what an exoneree must do in what time frame to qualify for compensation. For example, in California, exonerees can receive up to $100 for every day they were wrongfully convicted. However, over the past five or so years, the board in charge of allotting this compensation has denied most compensation claims.

Sources of Assistance
Recognizing the extreme barriers faced by exonerees in their attempts to reenter society, some organizations have formed to try to ease this transition. Life After Innocence is one of such programs, headquartered at the Loyola University School of Law. The Life After Innocence clinic provides occupational training, educational opportunities, legal resources, housing assistance, and countless other resources to help exonerees reenter society and "reclaim their rights as citizens", emphasizing "hand-ups not hand-outs."