Work

Imprisoned But Innocent: Wrongful Convictions and Imprisonments in Germany, 1990-2016

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: Although in the United States wrongful convictions and imprisonments are a major public and scientific concern, this topic has been largely ignored in Germany for decades. The present article offers for the first time an overview of all accessible German cases of successful retrials involving convicted persons who served a prison sentence since 1990. The data refer to 31 wrongfully convicted persons in 29 independent cases. Although the largest group consists of cases of false allegations, some of the wrongly convicted were considered not guilty by reason of insanity, and a few wrongful convictions occurred because of eyewitness misidentification and false confessions. In addition, incorrect expert testimony contributed considerably to the wrongful conviction in some cases.

Source: Crime & Delinquency

DOI: 10.1177/0011128719833355

Authors: Fredericke Leuschner, Martin Rettenberger, Axel Dessecker

Institutions: Kriminologische Zentralstelle, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, University of Göttingen

Language: English

Topic: Legal processes and jurisprudence

Subfield: Law

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2920912573

FWCI: 16.61

Cites: 38

Cited by: 23

Related to: 10