This is from the 2003 publication of Actual Innocence written by the founders of the The Innocence Project. Theres two parts the first is from the introduction of the book and was one of their very early DNA successes. Marion Coakley a male with the intellect of a 10 year old was serving life plus for a rape and murder he was completely innocent. Although physically mature was not, it would appear, pubescent. He was released but was totally unable to cope outside having lost the naivety and desire to be helpful He was known for, could not get work and was finally caught committing a burglary and sentenced to 15 years. The second part is just a short summary of changes they believe need to be made to improve the standard of convictions [it is the same as their first book published in 1999-2000 and based on research up to 1997/8]. Whats of interest is the identification [and jailhouse informer] part and what the scientific studies were showing clearly at that time and the recommendations for change already being put into place then and had been since 1993 in some of the American and Canadian Jurisdictions. The Law Review that lead to the new Evidence Act 2006 included the suggested changes but they were removed at the request of the police and police association. The chance to bring the police into the 21st Century was lost and replaced by a system dropped for many decades everywhere except lil Ol NZ. Was it too much for the police to handle having to actually work and investigate when they could show witnesses which one they wanted to be picked out as their chosen suspect?
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 09:22:13 +0000
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