Better Ways To Avoid Wrongful Convictions
STEPHEN SALOOM

March 10, 2008

 James Tillman spent 16 years in Connecticut prisons for a crime he didn't commit. For 16 years — more than 5,800 nights in prison — he held onto the truth that he was innocent and the hope that he could someday prove it. The DNA testing that finally proved his innocence also proved that the state's criminal justice system needs to be more fair and accurate.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has said that a top priority for her administration is to enhance the criminal justice system's ability to identify and convict the guilty while protecting the innocent. To do this, she has proposed expanding the state's database of DNA profiles to include people who are arrested for crimes but not yet convicted.

"It increases the possibility that we will identify people who have committed crimes in the past and improves the chances of catching anyone who commits another offense in the future," she said. "And of course it increases the chances that truly innocent people can be cleared."

Gov. Rell has the right goal, but her priorities are misplaced. If lawmakers are serious about making the criminal justice system more effective, they should start with implementing straightforward reforms that have been proved to reduce wrongful convictions. A critical reform bill is pending right now in the General Assembly, and it will do far more to improve the criminal justice system than would an expansion of the state's DNA database.

The legislature is considering a bill that would require all police departments in Connecticut to use eyewitness identification procedures that are proved to increase the accuracy of identifications. This bill would significantly improve law enforcement officials' ability to apprehend and convict the guilty while protecting the innocent.

If better eyewitness identification procedures had been in place two decades ago, James Tillman might not have been wrongfully convicted. At his trial in 1989, the primary evidence was the victim's identification of Tillman as her attacker. Even though the attack happened in a parking garage at night when the victim was impaired and under extreme duress, she identified him in a photo array.

Decades of solid research shows that simple, straightforward changes in identification procedures can prevent innocent people from being misidentified and wrongfully convicted. In a growing number of towns, cities and states, officers who administer live or photo lineups do not know who the suspect is and who the "fillers" are, so they can't influence the witness' decision. "Fillers" are selected carefully, and witness's confidence in the identification is recorded.

Because eyewitness misidentification is so prevalent — playing a role in more than 75 percent of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing — other states, including New Jersey and North Carolina, have mandated procedures like those proposed in Connecticut. The experience in these states has been uniformly positive. Police and prosecutors are able to apprehend and convict the guilty, innocent people are spared the nightmare of wrongful arrest and conviction, and — importantly — victims and witnesses are able to help secure true justice.

Beyond the critical eyewitness identification bill, there are several other steps Connecticut can and should take to improve the criminal justice system. A forensic commission can help ensure high-quality forensic analyses upon which critical questions of guilt and innocence turn. To prevent false confessions that often lead to wrongful convictions, Connecticut should join other states nationwide that videotape criminal interrogations.

For people who have lost years or decades to wrongful convictions, Connecticut should establish a uniform system for compensation in the wake of a wrongful conviction.

More than 200 people nationwide have been exonerated through DNA testing. These cases are the tip of the iceberg, because DNA cannot prove guilt or innocence in more than 90 percent of crimes. But these exonerations show us how the entire criminal justice system can be made stronger and more effective.

That's clearly what Gov. Rell and the legislature want to do — and to make it a reality, they should prioritize reforms that have been proved to get the heart of wrongful convictions. Public safety and confidence in the criminal justice system requires no less.

Stephen Saloom is the policy director of the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization.

Copyright © 2008, The Hartford Courant

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