Center for Prosecutor Integrity

September 30, 2018

October 2 is Wrongful Convictions Day. One of the most recent exonerees is Joshua Horner of Redmond, Oregon: https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=5375 . After a contested child custody decision, Horner’s ex-wife accused him of sexually abusing his daughter. He was handed a 50-year prison sentence.

On September 10, 2018, Joshua Horner was exonerated of all charges.

A Stain on Justice

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 2,271 persons are known to have been wrongfully convicted. These persons spent 20,080 years behind bars for a crime they did not commit, and sometimes never occurred.

Every wrongful conviction is a stain on the American ideal of “liberty and justice for all.” So how do we bring an end to wrongful convictions?

Victim Culture

The cause of our national epidemic of wrongful convictions is an ever-expanding Victim Culture. Over the past three decades, proponents of Victim Culture have:

Expanded definitions of offenses. For example, the definition of rape has been enlarged in recent years from forceful penetration to “non-consensual” penetration. Reduced due process protections. Now, campus “Kangaroo Courts” regularly dispense with impartial investigations and cross examinations. Created incentives to accuse. Persons who simply claim to be a “victim” of domestic violence are now entitled to free legal help, transitional housing, priority treatment by immigration authorities, and more. Eliminated punishments for false accusers. Persons who commit perjury or make false police reports are routinely let off the hook. Remember what happened to Crystal Mangum, false accuser in the Duke lacrosse case?

Victim Culture harms the credibility of real victims, devastates the wrongfully accused, and wastes millions in taxpayer-funded criminal justice services.