The Washington Post recently reported on the story of Barry Lee Jones – a man who spent 28 years on death row in Arizona. According to Mr. Jones’ attorney, he spent nearly three decades waiting for the day he would receive a lethal injection, despite compelling evidence that he was innocent of the charges.
To be freed, Mr. Jones had to plead guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. His crime: he failed to transport the victim to the hospital the night before she died. The logic here is clear: you didn’t do this, but you must have done something. Sadly, sentence and fact bargaining are common in plea deals.
Jones’ Case is Not an Anomaly
As of October 1, 2022, there were 2,363 people on death row in the United States – about 185 of which claim their innocence. Of the 3,337 people on the National Registry of Exonerations, 171 were on death row when they were exonerated. This data clearly demonstrate that the flaws in America’s criminal justice system could result in the killing of innocent people.
If innocent people can be convicted in a courtroom, something is clearly wrong with how trials are happening. A conviction should not be as random as a coin toss or a question of luck. Actucal guilt or innocence should determine who gets convicted in America’s courts.
But the unpredictability of the system doesn’t stop there. Whether or not you face the additional risk of losing your life depends on where you live. The death penalty has been abolished in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington. If convicted in other states, a wrongful conviction could lead to a wrongful execution.
Implications of the Problem
Evidence abounds that America’s criminal legal system is imperfect. Thousands of people have been wrongly convicted at trial. It’s likely that thousands more of those who accepted plea agreements are also innocent. Innocent people plead guilty for many, diverse reasons. Despite that diversity, one thing is true in all cases: ordinary citizens are no match for the all-powerful prosecutor. As a result of this power imbalance a fundamental principle of justice – that citizens should be protected by laws, not harmed by them – is violated very day in America. As a society, we have no idea how many people are being punished for crimes they did not commit.
Wrongful conviction cases, and coerced plea deals, have other things in common. First, they often include the testimony of unreliable eyewitnesses. Second, they often involve presentation of questionable evidence. In murder cases, this evidence is usually testimony from forensic scientists who failed to apply requisite scientific rigor, mishandled evidence or provided erroneous interpretation. A study by the Innocence Project found that 25% of the DNA exonerations involved junk science. In white collar cases, there are often problems with investigative techniques including warrantless searches and misrepresentation of the facts. More often than not, wrongful convictions and coerced plea agreements happen in cases where prosecutions fail to turn over exculpatory evidence.
Need for Change
America’s criminal legal system does not guarantee society that innocent people won’t be sent to prison. Incarceration has a devastating impact on individuals as they are subjected to physical and psychological harm. Incarceration disrupt families, separating parents from children and individuals from loved ones. Incarceration weakens communities and is correlated with higher rates of unemployment, financial insecurity, and homelessness. Sending an innocent person to prison is a violation of human rights and should offend our sense of human dignity.
Sending innocent people to prison also undermines public confidence in the justice system. It makes it hard for the public to know whether someone accused of a crime actually committed it. It also teaches people to distrust the system – because guilt and innocence have become secondary considerations. Anyone could be falsely accused and imprisoned – but it’s more likely to happen to you if you are poor or a minority.
Possible Solutions
There are a number of changes that could be made to America’s criminal legal system that would reduce wrongful convictions and prevent people like Mr. Jones from spending nearly 30 years on death row. These solutions include addressing the weaknesses of unreliable eyewitnesses, excluding faulty forensic evidence, and holding prosecutors accountable for inappropriate investigative techniques. It also requires proactive action from the bench to ensure prosecutors disclose all exculpatory evidence as part of discovery.
But the change doesn’t stop there. Additional improvements could be made by strengthening the role of public defenders. In most states, and at the federal level, public defenders are overworked and underpaid. Their offices, and the clients they serve, would benefit from additional resources that ensure they can conduct detailed investigations, fully develop strong legal arguments, and spend adequate time with client to understand all the facts.
Reductions in wrongful convictions could also be realized by creating Conviction Integrity Units and Plea Integrity Units in every state and at the federal level. These quasi-oversight bodies could help identify issues and ensure timely resolution of mishandled cases. More importantly, they could bring to light the root causes of the failures of our criminal legal system – and prevent innocent people from winding up in prison in the first place.
Mr. Jones is free today, but he, and his family, suffered for nearly 30 years – losing precious time they can never get back.
“Sorry, we must have made a mistake” falls short as an explanation for what went wrong. We should care because what happened to Mr. Jones was wrong.
And we should realize that, if it happened to him, it could happen to any one of us.