Miscarriage of justice

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A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that they did not commit. The term can also be applied to errors in the other direction, and to civil cases, but those usages are rarer. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful conviction, but this is often difficult to achieve. The most serious instances occur when a wrongful conviction is not overturned for several years, or until after the innocent person has been executed or died in jail.

Related Topics:
Conviction - Punishment - Crime - Quash

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Wrongful conviction or miscarriage of justice can also refer to a conviction reached in an unfair or disputed trial. Wrongful convictions are frequently cited by death penalty opponents as cause to eliminate death penalites to avoid executing innocent persons. In recent years DNA evidence has been used to clear many people falsely convicted.

Related Topics:
Death penalty - DNA evidence

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