Published on February 4, 2020
This past month the United States Library of Congress admitted into its collection Witness Misidentification in Criminal Trials: Reforming Identification Procedures to Protect the Innocent. The book, written by criminal appeals attorney Aaron Spolin, discusses the dangers of witness misidentification, which is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the county.
Witness Misidentification in Criminal Trials book cover
The book summary detailed on the back cover is copied below:
Witness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States. Among former death-row inmates proven innocent by post-trial DNA evidence, more than half of their cases involved a mistaken eyewitness identification. And the problem is not limited to death-row inmates: a comprehensive 2012 study by Marvin Zalman, a professor of criminal procedure, concludes that up to 2,000 individuals are wrongfully convicted of felonies each year. Combating witness misidentification is perhaps the biggest step we can take to fight his injustice. This book discusses the problems of witness identification, shows how identification procedures contribute to faulty convictions, and suggests reforms that would drastically reduce the potential for misidentification. Aaron Spolin is an award-winning criminal appeals attorney and former prosecutor. He leads Spolin Law P.C., a firm that handles criminal appeals, writs, and post-conviction relief.
The book, which has a Library of Congress Control Number of 2019-919901, can be purchased at major booksellers, including here at Amazon.
For more information about wrongful convictions or to speak with one of the attorneys at Spolin Law about a particular case, call us at (866) 963-7561.