Miscarriages of Justice is a special interdisciplinary issue of Albany Law School’s Albany Law Review, published in collaboration with the University at Albany’s School of Criminal Justice. This annual issue is composed of articles that integrate legal scholarship with social science and/or policy perspectives, and it focuses on problems within or related to the criminal justice system. The tenth annual issue anticipates publication in Spring of 2020. The theme for the 2019–2020 issue is:
JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED: A LOOK AT THE INFLUENCE OF EXONERATIONS ON POST-CONVICTION PROCEEDINGS IN OUR LEGAL SYSTEM AND BEYOND
This theme invites scholarship that encompasses the vital role exonerations play in achieving justice. For example, current law forbids post-conviction defendants from accessing DNA databanks in all but nine states. This lack of availability hinders a defendant’s ability to prove their actual innocence while subsequently matching the actual perpetrator who has previously escaped punishment. Another example includes state compensation laws for the wrongfully convicted. Exonerated individuals have profound difficulties reintegrating to the community and reclaiming their personal lives in the wake of exoneration. However, only thirty-five states currently have compensation statutes in effect to further assist exonerees. Another example is criminal justice reform which has been sparked by high profile exonerations. The recently released Netflix special highlighting the wrongful conviction and subsequent exoneration of five New York City adolescents in 2002—then coined the Central Park Five—has ignited a firestorm of debate on past and present police and legal practices. We invite all articles that fall at the intersect between exonerations and miscarriages of justice.
Scholarship should explore the particular laws, procedures, and relevant actors that affect State and/or Federal government entities before and after an individual has been exonerated. Examples of related subjects include but are not limited to:
States’ current civil remedies for exonerated individuals
Conviction Integrity Unit
Prosecutorial misconduct during the appeals process
Police review boards
The re-entry process after exoneration
The influence of exonerations on death penalty practices
The effects of wrongful convictions on victims
Police and legal reform following exonerations
Exonerations in the wake of a guilty plea
The Innocence Project
Interested authors should submit an abstract or similar description of the proposed article to Amanda Tucciarone, Executive Editor for Miscarriages of Justice, at atucciarone@albanylaw.edu. For further information, please contact Ms. Tucciarone at the email address provided above.