Controversies in Innocence Cases in America

Sarah Lucy Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in Law and founding member of the Centre for American Legal Studies at Birmingham City University in the UK where her teaching and research focus on English and American criminal procedure, practice and reform. She is a barrister and Lord Denning Scholar of the Bar of England and Wales, and a pro bono academic for Amicus. Sarah is a Fellow at the Arizona Justice Project - a non-profit organisation that considers claims of ’innocence’ and ’manifest injustice’ from Arizona inmates. In 2012, her work on Bill Macumber’s case was documented by Barry Siegel in his book, Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers who Fought for his Freedom. Sarah has published and presented her scholarship in Europe and the USA, and was recently shortlisted for Birmingham Law Society’s 2012 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award and a 2013 Extra Mile Award.

Part I The Rise of the Innocence Movement in America; Chapter 1 Innocence Found, Keith A. Findley; Chapter 2 The Innocence Network, Jacqueline McMurtrie; Part II How Are Innocent People Convicted? Common Causes of Wrongful Convictions; Chapter 3 Eyewitnesses and Erroneous Convictions, Jules Epstein; Chapter 4 Disputed Interrogation Techniques in America, Deborah Davis, Richard A. Leo, Michael J. Williams; Chapter 5 Innocence and the Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence by Prosecutors, Lissa Griffin; Chapter 6 The Two-Legged Stool, Carrie Leonetti; Part III Reality Bites; Chapter 7 The Emerging Role of Innocence Lawyer and the Need for Role-Differentiated Standards of Professional Conduct, D. Michael Risinger, Lesley C. Risinger; Chapter 8 When Finality and Innocence Collide, Carrie Sperling; Chapter 9 Narrowing the Construction of “Innocence”, Francine Banner; Part IV Innocence Reform; Chapter 10 Towards a Theory of Innocence Policy Reform, Nancy Marion, Marvin Zalman; Chapter 11 Innocence Commissions in America, Sarah Lucy Cooper;