Controversies in Innocence Cases in America

Controversies in Innocence Cases in America brings together leading experts on the investigation, litigation, and scholarly analysis of innocence cases in America, from legal, political and ethical perspectives. The contributors, many of whom work on these cases daily, investigate contemporary issues presented by innocence cases and the exoneration movement as a whole. These issues include the challenges faced by the movement, causes of wrongful convictions, problems associated with investigating, proving, and defining 'innocence', and theories of reform. Each issue is placed within a multi-disciplinary perspective to provide cogent observations and recommendations for the effective handling of these cases, and for what changes should be adopted in order to improve the American criminal justice system when it is faced with its most harrowing sight: an innocent defendant.

Sarah Lucy Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Law and founding member of the Centre for American Legal Studies at Birmingham City University in the UK where her teaching and research focus on English and American criminal procedure, practice and reform. She is a barrister and Lord Denning Scholar of the Bar of England and Wales, and a pro bono academic for Amicus. Sarah is a Fellow at the Arizona Justice Project - a non-profit organisation that considers claims of ’innocence’ and ’manifest injustice’ from Arizona inmates. In 2012, her work on Bill Macumber’s case was documented by Barry Siegel in his book, Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers who Fought for his Freedom. Sarah has published and presented her scholarship in Europe and the USA, and was recently shortlisted for Birmingham Law Society’s 2012 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award and a 2013 Extra Mile Award.