New Plans to Keep Innocent People Out of Prison

Two years of work ends with recommendations to lawmakers, law enforcement and attorneys on how to prevent putting innocent people in prison.  The Oklahoma Justice Commission issued its report on how to ensure the reliability of convictions in the state’s criminal justice system.
Among the recommendations made in the more then 100-page report are suggestions that more interrogations be recorded as part of an effort to reduce the number of false-confessions.
The report identified other areas lawmakers and policy makers need to review.  Those areas include eyewitness identification, forensic evidence, the use of informants and victim and family rights.  The commission also recommended new procedures for police line-ups and photo identification.
The Justice Commission was launched by the Oklahoma Bar Association after a request from the Oklahoma Innocence Project at Oklahoma City University’s School of Law.  The commission was headed by former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.  In a news conference Edmondson said the importance of getting the right person convicted is vital because if the wrong person is locked up, then the guilty party is still free to commit other crimes. 
The commission is also supporting legislation that would create a post-conviction DNA testing process.  Oklahoma is the only state that does not allow access to DNA in cases where there is additional evidence that could establish innocence.  Oklahoma did have a law in place, but it expired. 
The legislation to recreate the DNA testing processes is authored by Representative Lee Denney, R-Cushing.  “When a person’s life and liberty are at stake, we have a duty to be as thorough and exacting as possible to ensure that we are not sending an innocent person to prison,” Denney said. 
New Plans to Keep Innocent People Out of Prison

Posted: Friday, March 1 2013, 09:33 PM CST