Canadian report calls for national board to review possible wrongful convictions

Last week, a group of Canadian law enforcement experts released a report on the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard, a Saskatchewan man who spent 23 years in prison for a crime DNA shows he didn’t commit. The report examined the specific errors in the Milgaard case, but it went much further. The Canadian federal government needs to create an oversight board to review possible wrongful conviction cases, the report said. Milgaard’s family members welcomed the proposal, saying such a board could have helped him win his release much sooner.

"I'm delighted that we are finally getting recommendations for an independent board," Milgaard's mother, Joyce Milgaard, told a news conference in Saskatoon shortly after the Saskatchewan government released the commission of inquiry report.

"It will be worthwhile," she said. "Everything our family has gone through, if we now, if we really follow through and get this independent board."

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. (Canadian Broadcasting Corp., 09/26/08)

North Carolina recently created a similar oversight and review panel, and

the group issued its first findings earlier this month

.