Controversies in Innocence Cases in America Controversies in American Constitutional Law Series

Controversies in Innocence Cases in America brings together leading experts on the investigation, litigation, and scholarly analysis of innocence cases in America, from legal, political and ethical perspectives. The contributors, many of whom work on these cases daily, investigate contemporary issues presented by innocence cases and the exoneration movement as a whole. These issues include the challenges faced by the movement, causes of wrongful convictions, problems associated with investigating, proving, and defining 'innocence', and theories of reform. Each issue is placed within a multi-disciplinary perspective to provide cogent observations and recommendations for the effective handling of these cases, and for what changes should be adopted in order to improve the American criminal justice system when it is faced with its most harrowing sight: an innocent defendant.

Part I The Rise of the Innocence Movement in America; Chapter 1 Innocence Found, Keith A. Findley; Chapter 2 The Innocence Network, Jacqueline McMurtrie; Part II How Are Innocent People Convicted? Common Causes of Wrongful Convictions; Chapter 3 Eyewitnesses and Erroneous Convictions, Jules Epstein; Chapter 4 Disputed Interrogation Techniques in America, Deborah Davis, Richard A. Leo, Michael J. Williams; Chapter 5 Innocence and the Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence by Prosecutors, Lissa Griffin; Chapter 6 The Two-Legged Stool, Carrie Leonetti; Part III Reality Bites; Chapter 7 The Emerging Role of Innocence Lawyer and the Need for Role-Differentiated Standards of Professional Conduct, D. Michael Risinger, Lesley C. Risinger; Chapter 8 When Finality and Innocence Collide, Carrie Sperling; Chapter 9 Narrowing the Construction of “Innocence”, Francine Banner; Part IV Innocence Reform; Chapter 10 Towards a Theory of Innocence Policy Reform, Nancy Marion, Marvin Zalman; Chapter 11 Innocence Commissions in America, Sarah Lucy Cooper;

Sarah Lucy Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Law and founding member of the Centre for American Legal Studies at Birmingham City University in the UK where her teaching and research focus on English and American criminal procedure, practice and reform. She is a barrister and Lord Denning Scholar of the Bar of England and Wales, and a pro bono academic for Amicus. Sarah is a Fellow at the Arizona Justice Project - a non-profit organisation that considers claims of ’innocence’ and ’manifest injustice’ from Arizona inmates. In 2012, her work on Bill Macumber’s case was documented by Barry Siegel in his book, Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers who Fought for his Freedom. Sarah has published and presented her scholarship in Europe and the USA, and was recently shortlisted for Birmingham Law Society’s 2012 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award and a 2013 Extra Mile Award.