<
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/02/20/canadian-registry-of-wrongful-convictions-shines-light-on-cases-the-headlines-miss.html>
"A first-ever comprehensive Canadian registry of wrongful convictions shows 18
per cent of remedied cases were due to false guilty pleas and a third of all
cases involved “imagined” crimes that never happened. Many of these cases
involved disgraced former Ontario pathologist Charles Smith, known for
“thinking dirty” about child abuse.
Another takeaway is the number of Indigenous people wrongfully convicted. They
represent roughly one in five of 83 documented cases, which are only the “tip
of the iceberg” of wrongful conviction cases that go unreported and occur on a
daily basis in courtrooms across the country.
The Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions is five years in the making, the
brainchild of University of Toronto legal scholar Kent Roach and Métis lawyer
Amanda Carling, and inspired by the U.S. National Registry of Exonerations,
which has documented more than 3,000 cases.
Like the U.S. registry, the Canadian registry does not attempt to measure
“factual innocence” but records cases where the legal system admits its
mistakes, often by admitting new evidence after a trial or a guilty plea.
The Canadian registry steps deeply beyond DNA “whodunnit” exoneration cases,
which most commonly come to mind in the public’s eye when thinking of wrongful
convictions — think Guy Paul Morin and David Milgaard — and into areas like bad
science, dubious police techniques and people who have committed no crime
whatsoever but plead guilty, often to avoid a potentially more punitive outcome
or due to cultural differences.
The registry, which is now live and includes case summaries and a timeline of
wrongful convictions and injustices dating back to the hanging of Louis Riel,
most importantly publicly shares an analysis of up to 140 data points related
to the cases, including the factors that led to wrongful convictions.
Of the 83 documented cases, 28 — or 34 per cent — involved no crime actually
taking place. In 15 — or 18 per cent — of cases, a false guilty plea was a
factor. The findings nearly mirror those of the U.S. registry."
Via Cass M, who wrote "This is astounding but needs to be taught initially in
high school."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
