Title: The Supreme Court's Actual Innocence Problem
Subtitle: How the Supreme Court of the United States Has Failed to Reduce Wrongful Convictions
Subject Classification:  Law and Legal Ethics  
BIC Classification: LA, PD
BISAC Classification: LAW026000, LAW018000, LAW111000
Binding: Hardback, Paperback, eBook
Publication date: 20 Mar 2025
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-83711-160-2
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83711-161-9
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-83711-162-6

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Description

The author analyzes recent US Supreme Court rulings in all of the areas of constitutional criminal procedure, which wrongful convictions scholars generally agree are most flawed in ways that lead to wrongful convictions. These problem areas include: 1) Eyewitness identification procedures 2) Police interrogations 3) Forensic evidence 4) Informant testimony 5) Indigent defense 6) Prosecutorial Immunity and 7) The rights of inmates to post-conviction actual innocence hearings. He also explains the terrifying phenomenon of wrongful executions, which are inevitable in any nation that tolerates both wrongful convictions and the death penalty.

This book makes a unique contribution to the literature on wrongful convictions by explaining how the Supreme Court has failed to adequately respond to the data on inmate exonerations since the DNA Revolution in forensic science. Even when confronted with recent exoneration data, the Supreme Court has continued, in every major area where reform is needed, to minimize and perpetuate the miscarriages of justice.

Biography

Author(s):  Nathan Goetting is a Professor of Criminal Justice & Jurisprudence at Adrian College, Michigan, USA.

Reviews

"Goetting’s book takes on a difficult but important topic; the failure of the Supreme Court of the United States to more effectively prevent wrongful convictions. In his discussion of how wrongful convictions occur and of their frequency, Goetting illustrates one of the major flaws of the American criminal justice system, which is constitutionally designed to provide robust protection against such errors. The book effectively and succinctly discusses the Supreme Court’s doctrines that contribute to wrongful convictions, and the steps that the Court should take to reduce the frequency of these errors. Finally, Goetting brings his subject to life by discussing landmark Supreme Court cases in detail, and he writes in a style that is accessible to non-lawyers. He has created a valuable resource for anyone who wants to learn about this topic."
- Aman McLeod, J.D., Ph.D, Associate Professor of Law, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

"At this point it's pretty well known that innocent people go to prison, and the villains of most stories tend to be police or prosecutors. But many in law enforcement don't want to create injustice, either. Nathan Goetting's The Supreme Court's Actual Innocence Problem is a refreshingly plainspoken and penetrating argument for why our nation's top court is actually where the buck stops, and how the justices can fix an ongoing, devastating problem, with no shortage of bipartisan support."
- Maurice Chammah, journalist and author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty