Librarian
Law Library Hours
Introduction
This guide is part of a series for students in Prof. Jackie McMurtrie's Innocence Project Northwest Clinic. Companion guides include:
- 50-State Law Surveys
- Citing Unusual Trial Sources
- Criminal Records
- Finding People & Public Records
- Forensics
- Miscellaneous Topics
Access to HeinOnline and LegalTrac is UW restricted. LexisNexis and Westlaw access is limited to individuals with their own IDs or passwords.
Finding Articles
Finding articles from law reviews, legal journals, and related periodicals is relatively easy. Choose a source that you are comfortable with (HeinOnline, Lexis Advance, Westlaw) and then search by words and phrases you associate with a topic.
You can also search:
Consider using one of the following subject headings:
- DNA Testing
- Evidence, Scientific
- False Imprisonment
- Innocence (Psychology)
- Post-Conviction Remedies
- Wrongful Convictions (Law)
Finding Books
The Law Library has many books on this topic. The following items are just some of the titles that are available. The list is in order by title. These items are located in the Classified Stacks unless otherwise indicated.
Links lead to Law Library catalog records, many of which include titles of chapters in the books.
Items that do not include call numbers are available on the Internet or as e-books.
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Achieving Justice: Freeing the Innocent, Convicting the Guilty by Call Number: Classified Stacks (KF9756 .A82 2006)Publication Date: 2006 -
Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution and Other Dispatches from the Wrongly Convicted by Publication Date: 2000 -
Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right by Publication Date: 2001 -
Controversies in Innocence Cases in America by Publication Date: 2014 -
Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong by Publication Date: 2011 -
Examining Wrongful Convictions; Stepping Back, Moving Forward by Publication Date: 2014 -
False Justice: Eight Myths That Convict the Innocent by Publication Date: 2011 -
Forensics under Fire: Are Bad Science and Dueling Experts Corrupting Criminal Justice? by Publication Date: 2008 -
Innocent: Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases by Publication Date: 2004 -
Lazarus and the Hurricane: The Freeing of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter by Publication Date: 2000 -
The Wrong Men: America's Epidemic of Wrongful Death Row Convictions by Publication Date: 2003 -
Wrongful Conviction: Law, Science, and Policy by Publication Date: 2011 -
Prosecution Complex: America's Race to Convict and Its Impact on the Innocent by Publication Date: 2013 -
Wrongful Death Sentences: Rethinking Justice in Capital Cases by Publication Date: 2010
You can search for other books and materials in library catalogs using one or more of the following subject headings:
- DNA fingerprinting
- Evidence, Criminal
- Evidence, Expert
- Judicial error
- Post-conviction remedies
- Prosecutorial misconduct
Finding Government Reports
Reports from federal and state government agencies often provide policy and legal arguments on the topic of wrongful convictions.
In addition to the works cited below, consider searching the following websites:
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Congressional Research Service ReportsCRS, a division of the Library of Congress, provides high-quality research and analysis for members of Congress. The reports created by CRS staff are succinct and well-researched.
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Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, 1895-1976Comprehensive index to historical information published by the U.S. federal government, 1895-1976.
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National Criminal Justice Reference Service [U.S. Dep't of Justice]Describes more than 220,000 government reports and articles.
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ProQuest CongressionalIndexes Congressional hearings and reports. Relevant subject headings include:
* Capital Punishment
* DNA
* Forensic Medicine
* Habeas Corpus
Examples of government reports include:
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DNA for the Defense Bar by Publication Date: 2012Designed specifically for criminal defense attorneys. Covers the science of DNA, DNA evidence, laboratory issues, pretrial preparation, trial issues, cold case hits, and proactive use of DNA. -
DNA Testing in Criminal Justice: Background, Current Law, Grants, and Issues byCall Number: Available on HeinOnlinePublication Date: 2012A 45-page report covering DNA profiles, collection of DNA from arrestees and offenders, preservation of biological evidence, and federal laws.
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Post-Conviction DNA Testing and Wrongful Conviction by Publication Date: 2012 -
Predicting Erroneous Convictions: A Social Science Approach to Miscarriages of Justice by Publication Date: 2012
Bibliographies
Using bibliographies is a way to fast-track your research. Identify useful items then search the library catalog to find out if the items are available at your local library.
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DNA Shall Prevail: Postconviction DNA Evidence: An Annotated BibliographyPublished in vol. 25, Legal Reference Services Quarterly, pages 39-58 (2006).
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DNA Evidence: Brave New World, Same Old Problems [LLRX]An annotated bibliography of books, chapters in books, and articles covering "the law and science of genetic evidence at the pre-conviction stage. Thus, it focuses on the role of DNA in identification, investigation and prosecution of crime, social and privacy issues, and to some degree exculpation or evidence of third party culpability."
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Post-Conviction Representation, Pro Se Practice and Access to the Courts [LLRX]Identifies important federal and state court opinions, books and book chapters, scholarly articles, American Law Reports annotations, and selected other resources.
Websites
The following websites provide useful information on this topic. Other websites relevant to discrete topics covered elsewhere in this guide are highlighted with similar sources.
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Criminal Law Resources: DNA Post-Conviction Resources [LLRX]Published in Sept. 2008, this site describes articles, bibliographies, laws, reports, secondary sources, standards, and other resources.
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Innocence and the Death Penalty [Death Penalty Information Center]Contains statistics and other information about exonerated death row inmates from 1973 to the present.
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The Innocence ProjectFounded in 1992 by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Describes exoneration cases won by the Project and interviews with the exonerees.
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National Association of Criminal Defense LawyersOffers a wealth of information, including:
* a long list of Criminal Defense topics, such as Crime Labs/Forensics Reform, DNA and Post-Conviction Tests, and Post-Conviction Projects
* the Post-Conviction Innocence Claims Toolbox
* the Proportionality Litigation Project with state constitutional and statutory limits on long terms of imprisonment -
National Registry of Exonerations [Univ. of Michigan Law School]Provides detailed information about "every known exoneration in the United States since 1989."