Published 29 April 2021
Unreliable witness testimony has been the biggest cause of miscarriages of justice over the past half century, a major new study suggests. The research also suggests that regulations governing the powers of police have been effective in reducing wrongful convictions caused by unreliable confessions.
Unreliable witness testimony has been the biggest cause of miscarriages of justice over the past half century, a major new study suggests.
The research also suggests that regulations governing the powers of police have been effective in reducing wrongful convictions caused by unreliable confessions.
Dr. Rebecca Helm, from the University of Exeter Law School, led the analysis of more than two hundred and fifty miscarriages of justice that have occurred in England & Wales over the last fifty years. This research has led to a new publicly available database of over 350 convictions overturned due to factual error in England and Wales and elsewhere in the U.K., from 1970 to 2016.