Reforms needed in U.S. policing efforts

Maryland seems on the verge of joining several other states and other western liberal democracies in abolishing the death penalty. Out of all the arguments made for abolition over the years and Gov. Martin O'Malley's argument before legislative committees, the likelihood of executing the innocent is the most compelling....

We sometimes hear about the injustices that make the news. According to the Web site of the Death Penalty Information Center, 128 wrongfully convicted people in 25 states have been exonerated since 1973. Sixty-eight of the 128 are African American. Based on my involvement over the years, my rough count is that more than 300 wrongfully convicted people, sentenced to long prison terms, have been released.

Reforms that lessen the likelihood of wrongful convictions must also be a part of this effort because this is the road that leads to death row. Maryland is not alone. The challenges might be better understood if put in the context of an institutionalized national problem. Following are some of the challenges and reforms needed in Maryland and across the nation:

* The general public belief that the police are dedicated public servants and would not charge anyone who was not guilty. Statistically, like all populations, the police are a representative sample of the population from which they are drawn. They bring the same range of attitudes and beliefs.

* Crime labs should be independent, scientific organizations run by scientists, not ``police labs" staffed by deputized police technicians. The conflict of interest is obvious. This work could be contracted out to universities where scientific integrity and independence is better appreciated.

* Public defender offices must be properly funded and staffed. Even in the best offices, attorneys, many just out of law school, are overloaded with work.

* All police interrogations and other police encounters with citizens should be videotaped. Citizens have a right to see what the police are doing in their name.

* The work of defense attorneys is often closely scrutinized. Judges and prosecutors, however, are the other lawyers who must be held accountable. I do not know of any prosecutor or judge who was suspended, disbarred or otherwise disciplined in a wrongful conviction case. They, too, are first and foremost lawyers with special obligations to the rule of law.

* Clear jury instructions about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony proved by repeated neuroscience research.

* A compensation statute that lays out a scheme of appropriate compensation that makes whole the wrongfully convicted. Maryland has such a statute.

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