Miscarriage of justice

Miscarriage of justice is when a lawsuit ends with a result that is unfair, or wrong. Miscarriage of justice is also applicable when one is prevented or prohibited from filing one or many lawsuits, is threatened, bullied, denied due process, abused, denied a lawyer, permitted no council, denied the opportunity to file a criminal report or get a restraining order, or is in an environment where the entire legal system prevents impartiality (such as an inability to have a fair jury, or a judge which is not biased (for example, sleeping with a prosecutor on a case could lead to bias, or being a huge fan of a video game (such as The Sims) and finding a developer on that game before them as a defendant)).

Miscarriage of justice also is applicable in the case of a different person getting a settlement some other person deserves, in a civil or criminal case, while the actual victim gets mistreated or ignored or used by the prosecution, defense, legal system, etc., with no recourse or justice themselves (a sort of double injustice).

One example of a miscarriage of just ice is when a person is found guilty of a crime they did not commit. These miscarriages of justice are also known as wrongful convictions. People have spent years in prison, before the error was found. The sentence can be overturned, if there's new evidence that was not known at the time of the trial. Trials have to follow a given schema. If it is found that police or prosecutor committed some kind of misconduct at the original trial, the sentence may also be undone.

Things that contribute to a wrongful conviction

The following can contribute to a wrongful conviction:

Eyewitness accounts are unreliable. They are responsible for up to 70% of the wrongful convictions. Studies have shown that the way police lineups are done can change an eyewitness's memory of the suspect and this often leads to misidentification. Witnesses also have difficulty making accurate identifications with suspects from different ethnic groups. The "the rate of mistaken identification is significantly higher than most people tend to believe".
Pieces of evidence may be contaminated, while they are packaged or transported. Contamination can be introduced unintentionally by material that was not present when the crime was committed by anyone entering the crime scene after the event. This may be uninvolved witnesses who may become suspects, and by emergency responders, fire fighters, police officers and crime scene investigators themselves. Evidence can also be contaminated when it is being analyzed or stored. A miscarriage of justice can occur when procedures to prevent contamination are not carried out carefully and accurately, leaving reasonable doubt.
There may be errors, when analyzing forensic evidence.
There may be false confessions.

References

↑ "United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725 (1993)". U.S. Supreme Court. Harvard Law School. April 26, 1993. p. 736. In our collateral review jurisprudence, the term 'miscarriage of justice' means that the defendant is actually innocent.^{[permanent dead link]}
↑ Garner, Bryan A. (June 25, 2009). miscarriage of justice (9th ed.). Black's Law Dictionary. p. 1088. ISBN 978-0-314-19949-2. Retrieved 2018-11-05. A grossly unfair outcome in a judicial proceeding, as when a defendant is convicted despite a lack of evidence on an essential element of the crime. — Also termed a failure of justice.
↑ Garrett, Brandon L. (2020-01-13). "Wrongful Convictions". Annual Review of Criminology. 3 (1): 245–259. doi:10.1146/annurev-criminol-011518-024739. ISSN 2572-4568. S2CID 243044157. Archived from the original on 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
↑ Ralph Slovenko, Testifying with Confidence, J Am Acad Psychiatry Law, Vol. 27, No. 1, 1999
↑ Suter, Glenn W.; Efroymson, Rebecca A.; Sample, Bradley E.; Jones, Daniel S. (2000-04-21). Ecological Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-5669-3.
↑ Giannelli, Paul C. (December 2007). "Wrongful Convictions and Forensic Science: The Need to Regulate Crime Labs". North Carolina Law Review. 86 (1): 163–235. ISSN 0029-2524. Retrieved 18 November 2014.

[US-miscarriage_of_justice-1] "United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725 (1993)". U.S. Supreme Court. Harvard Law School. April 26, 1993. p. 736. In our collateral review jurisprudence, the term 'miscarriage of justice' means that the defendant is actually innocent.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Black's-2] Garner, Bryan A. (June 25, 2009). miscarriage of justice (9th ed.). Black's Law Dictionary. p. 1088. ISBN 978-0-314-19949-2. Retrieved 2018-11-05. A grossly unfair outcome in a judicial proceeding, as when a defendant is convicted despite a lack of evidence on an essential element of the crime. — Also termed a failure of justice.

[3] Garrett, Brandon L. (2020-01-13). "Wrongful Convictions". Annual Review of Criminology. 3 (1): 245–259. doi:10.1146/annurev-criminol-011518-024739. ISSN 2572-4568. S2CID 243044157. Archived from the original on 2020-03-21. Retrieved 2022-11-27.

[Testifying_with_Confidence-4] Ralph Slovenko, Testifying with Confidence, J Am Acad Psychiatry Law, Vol. 27, No. 1, 1999

[5] Suter, Glenn W.; Efroymson, Rebecca A.; Sample, Bradley E.; Jones, Daniel S. (2000-04-21). Ecological Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sites. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-5669-3.

[Giannelli-6] Giannelli, Paul C. (December 2007). "Wrongful Convictions and Forensic Science: The Need to Regulate Crime Labs". North Carolina Law Review. 86 (1): 163–235. ISSN 0029-2524. Retrieved 18 November 2014.