Convicting the Innocent

A district attorney in Worcester County, Massachusetts, a few years ago is reported to have “Innocent men are never convicted. Don’t worry about it, it never happens in the world. It is a physical impossibility.” The present collection of sixty-five cases, which have been selected from a much larger number, is a refutation of this supposition. Although the author’s major interests lie in an aspect of the law somewhat remote from criminal law, he has nevertheless long urged that the State or community assume the risks of official wrongdoing and error instead of permitting the losses resulting from such fault or mistake to be borne by the injured individual alone. Among the most shocking of such injuries and most glaring of injustices are erroneous criminal convictions of innocent people. The State must necessarily prosecute persons legitimately suspected of crime; but when it is discovered after conviction that the wrong man was condemned, the least the State can do to right this essentially irreparable injury is to reimburse the innocent victim, by an appropriate indemnity, for the loss and damage suffered. European countries have long recognized that such indemnity is a public obligation. All countries ought to adopt the same policy, instead of merely releasing the innocent prisoner from custody by pardoning him for a crime he never committed, and without any admission of error or public vindication of his character. The book has remained an essential reading for a number of years.