Name(s):
Error of criminal justice
Judicial error
Perversion of justice
Malicious prosecution
Fallibility of law
Nature
The condemning of an innocent party may result from such factors as: falsification of evidence; perjury; rejection of contrary evidence; professional negligence; prejudice; pressure of public opinion; dishonesty; juridicial unscrupulousness; bureaucratic inertia; or vested political, economic or professional interests. An innocent person, whether or not appeals subsequently establish his innocence, thus suffers all the economic and social penalties of the guilty, often with minimal compensation or none at all. Such errors, whether perpetrated deliberately or inadvertently, do not necessarily result in sanctions against those responsible, or in efforts to prevent their repetition.
Claim
The probability of miscarriage of justice is now so high that this is used as a major argument in countries considering (re)introduction of the death penalty.
Counter-claim
Any judicial system is subject to error. Which is a greater miscarriage of justice; setting free a criminal who then kills, robs and rapes or an innocent person sitting in prison for life ? Society must minimize these miscarriages, but justice is difficult to find and moves from place to place.