Support for Research of Wrongful Convictions

Submitted by the Police Investigative Operations Committee, the Police Image and Ethics Committee, and the Forensics Committee

                                                                              PIO.028.a08

WHEREAS: the overwhelming majority of individuals convicted for crimes are guilty of the crime for which they were convicted;

WHEREAS: there is an emerging body of knowledge regarding the existence of persons who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes despite their innocence.

WHEREAS: the wrongful conviction of an innocent person is a grave miscarriage of justice and creates a danger to American communities because the actual perpetrator of the crime remains free.

WHEREAS: cases involving persons who are wrongfully convicted may be the result of factors such as false confessions, inadequate investigations, mistaken eye witness identification, and delayed, absent, mistaken or improper forensic analysis.

WHEREAS: professional law enforcement investigators and their agencies will benefit from recommendations developed through a systematic review of current academic research and law enforcement investigative techniques designed to avoid wrongful convictions and,

WHEREAS: the IACP has called for the establishment of a National Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice that would examine, among other items, emerging issues and concerns in the criminal justice system; and

WHEREAS: a thorough review of the issues related to the wrongful convictions is a key element in ensuring the effectiveness of, and continuing faith in, the criminal justice system. therefore be it;

RESOLVED; that the International Association of Chiefs of Police calls upon the Administration and Congress to support and adequately fund efforts, including the establishment of a National Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, to study and develop recommendations for reducing or eliminating wrongful convictions.