This seminar will examine the causes that lead to wrongful convictions, including mistaken eyewitness identification, false confessions, faulty forensic science, tunnel vision, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and compensation for exonerees. In each topic area, the course will examine the systemic failures that lead to convistions of persons who are factually innocent and reforms that have been proposed to address those systemic failures. The main deliverable in this course is an independent research and writing project based on a topic of the student's choosing. Grading: Letter graded Credits: Variable Offered: Irregularly Categories: Long Paper Subject Areas: Criminal Law
