Expanding wrongful conviction analyses: a framework to foreground temporality and change

Abstract

Innocence research has traditionally focused on a common set of contributing factors and the aftermath of exoneration. A result of this narrow lens is that researchers typically frame wrongful convictions as primarily involving innocent defendants and the state actors who harmed them, glossing over the roles played by the many other actors who may be involved in these cases. Further, scholars rarely analyze the timing and sequencing of the criminal legal processes that generate wrongful convictions and exoneration, instead often conflating the two. In this article, we first present a framework that captures the shifting and multifaceted roles of actors who are neither representatives of the state nor the innocent people most directly harmed in wrongful conviction cases. We then apply this framework to (re)analyze the Central Park Jogger case. In considering a multitude of individuals and attending to the temporality of criminal legal proceedings, our framework adds clarity and complexity to our understanding of wrongful convictions, and it spurs more varied and precise research questions. We call on other scholars in this field to adapt and extend our framework as they continue developing a more nuanced understanding of wrongful convictions.