Criminology3503 -- Wrongful Conviction!   MWF11.30-12.30  Classroom TBA    gradesheet    weblog

marshallFrom the calendar: Wrongful convictions undermine the 'legitimacy premise' that accused persons are innocent until proven guilty under the law. This course focuses on factors contributing to wrongful convictions, eg. eyewitness mis/identification, jailhouse informants, withheld (and manufactured/false) evidence, false confessions, and misconduct by police and prosecutors; and looks at what has been done to prevent and remedy these legal/social injustices, those threats to legitimacy. This course explores how police, expert witnesses, prosecutors, defence lawyers, juries, trial judges and defendants contribute to wrongful convictions; and how that can be remedied. "It's all about finding what's hidden in plain sight, in the stories that are told..." 
Text: Manufacturing Guilt, 2nd ed., Anderson, Fernwood 2009

Image: Donald Marshall 17, being led into court, 1971.

Evaluated work: 1. Classmark incorporates attendance, participation, inclass reflections, homework, and online assignments (25%). 2. Proposal week six (20%), 2-3 pages with refs, outlines project, with 'concept' and materials. Concepts can include issues like cognitive biases, and materials can include ‘media’ coverage, etc. Can be done in singles, pairs, groups... 3. Final project, due week fourteen (30%), based on the proposal and incorporated into the project, prepared as a powerpoint (or essay, video, blog)... and submitted electronically. Equivalent to an essay (7-10 pages double-spaced), must include references, theory, with 'concept' and/or materials, and visuals. The easiest thing is to write an essay and chunk it into subsections and put it into the notes section. Ten to fifteen (10-15) slides is a good size for a project.  This should be submitted by email, (or on jumpdrive), and will not usually be returned. Please keep a copy. With permission, projects may be kept and used by instructor as anonymous demonstrations for future sections of course.  4. Exam: short answer essay (25%).
The course uses a ‘hybrid’ format, described in the weblog. No class is usually just cancelled, just moved online.

Resources:
False Confessions: Transcripts and Testimony www.law.virginia.edu/html/librarysite/garrett_falseconfess.htm   
 Innocence Project: Research Resources https://innocenceproject.org/research-resources/
Injustices and Miscarriages of Justice Experienced by 12 Indigenous Women link
The Wrongful Convictions Blog https://wrongfulconvictionsblog.org/category/wrongful-conviction/
Innocence at Stake: The Need for Continued Vigilance to Prevent Wrongful Convictions in Canada, 2019. https://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/pub/is-ip/toc-tdm.html
A chat with John Grisham... https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/a-chat-with-john-grisham
Image 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgKvpkCxb7s 5mins

Image: Exonerations. Contributing Factor by Crime. https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/ExonerationsContribFactorsByCrime.aspx

Additionally:
The webpage at http://www.stu.ca/writingcentre is full of great resources for students, and appointments are available.
Limited AI use is permitted for editing, as long as it is acknowledged. Laptops to be used for note-taking only. Phones must be off during class.   Recording is not permitted, for privacy and copyright issues, as per S3 of the student academic misconduct policy.