Wrongful Convictions and the Criminalization of Innocence: International Perspectives on Contributing Factors, Models of Exoneration and Case Studies . and Developments in Criminal Justice and Law)

This edited international collection explores the nature and extent of wrongful convictions, as well as examines the systems in place that attempt to exonerate the wrongly convicted. Inspired by two conventions of legal scholars, jurists, lawyers and law students gathered to examine miscarriages of justice as well as the means to address them, in Israel and Canada, this compilation presents work arising from those workshops as well as newer research dedicated to examining this phenomenon. With a thoughtful and evidence-based approach by leading international legal scholars and jurists, this book offers a timely analysis given the burgeoning interest in the study of miscarriages of justice across the globe.

This book is useful for all those interested in studying miscarriages of justice, why they occur and how to eliminate or minimize them, including students and professionals involved in criminology, criminal law and innocence work, as well as comparative criminology and legal scholars.

Kathryn M. Campbell is Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She holds a B.A. in Psychology (McGill), an M.Phil in Criminology (Cantab), a Ph.D. in Criminology (Universite de Montreal) and a BCL/LLB (McGill). Professor Campbell has long been interested in studying social justice, including issues of equality and rights under the law, for various individuals and groups. Professor Campbell has published extensively in the areas of miscarriages of justice, young persons and criminal law, and Indigenous justice issues.

Barak Ariel is a Professor at the Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor of Experimental Criminology at the University of Cambridge. He is the current Director of the Police Executive Cambridge at the University of Cambridge. His research interests lie in the areas of policing, victimology and law and society.

Anat Horovitz is a faculty member of the Hebrew University Faculty of Law, where she teaches Criminal Procedure and serves as the Academic Director of the Innocence Clinic. Anat stepped down from her ten-year position as Deputy Head of Israel’s Public Defender’s Office in 2022, was a member of the Public Committee on Wrongful Convictions and Miscarriages of Justice (2018–2022) and served on the Advisory Committee to the Minister of Justice on Criminal Procedure (2005–2012, 2018–2022). Anat holds an L.L.B. (Hebrew University), L.L.M. (London School of Economics) and L.L.D. (Hebrew University), interned at the Israel Supreme Court and worked for a decade as an associate and partner at a law firm, specializing in white-collar crime.

Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ, is International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and long-time Member of Parliament, and an international human rights lawyer. A constitutional and comparative law scholar, Professor Cotler is the author of numerous publications and seminal legal articles and has written upon and intervened in landmark Charter of Rights cases in the areas of free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights, peace law and war crimes justice.