Column: new policies needed to halt unjust convictions

In yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer, forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland writes that wrongful convictions have uncovered flaws in the American criminal justice that need to be addressed immediately. She compares the proposed reforms to Miranda Rights, which were controversial when mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966 but are considered standard practice today.

Of course, we should expect collateral damage within any human institution, but if we have identified ways to reduce it, we should utilize them. It is shocking that officials entrusted with public safety would worry more about technical slip-ups that might free a guilty person than about errors that repeatedly have victimized the innocent.

Read the full column here

. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/04/07)