The Florida Actual Innocence Commission

From the blog Plain Error :

The Florida Actual Innocence Commission

Seth — December 15, 2009 @ 9:00 AM — Comments (0)

This sounds like something every state should have but most states, including Florida, do absolutely nothing to study the cases where someone is later freed based on DNA or other evidence of actual innocence. The innocent person gets out, there is lots of hoopla and it is a wonderful event for them, their family, and their supporters. But when the lights of the news cameras go out and the buzz from the exonerations fade, all we are left with is the same criminal justice system that wrongfully convicted these individuals in the first place.

IPF Board Member and former ABA president, Sandy D’Alemberte is aiming change all that. With the support of IPF and dozens of high-profile, esteemed Florida attorneys supporting him, Sandy has filed a petition with the Florida Supreme Court to create an Actual Innocence Commission that can study cases of wrongful conviction, find out how and why they happened, and make recommendations for reform based on those findings.

A St. Pete Times editorial states:

On Friday, a group of renowned attorneys that includes former Florida Supreme Court justices, former presidents of the American Bar Association and former Florida Bar leaders, petitioned Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince for the formation of an actual innocence commission. The request is modeled after a similar undertaking in North Carolina that brought together judges, police, prosecutors, defense lawyers, victims’ advocates and academics for a two-year review of procedures in the criminal justice system. The commission isolated factors that helped lead to wrongful convictions and recommended changes.

. . .

An innocence commission would comprehensively evaluate investigatory and court procedures, including those for eyewitness identification in cases like Bain’s, and suggest new safeguards. According to the Innocence Project of Florida, witness misidentification contributed to almost 80 percent of the 245 convictions later overturned by DNA testing nationwide.

We should not allow the canard that we have the best criminal justice system int he world to block efforts for reforming a system that is clearly broken. Wrongful convictions are proof that the system needs help. A truly healthy criminal justice system is one that recognizes its faults and endeavors to fix them.

This Innocence Commission is a wonderful idea that could pave the way to curing much that is wrong with Florida’s system and it is one we should all support.

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