Recommendation 4: Texas Should Create an Innocence Advisory Council.
The latest scientific breakthroughs in DNA testing have demonstrated that even with a strong justice system the potential exists to convict individuals of crimes they did not commit. These wrongful convictions destroy public trust and confidence in the justice system. Texas has already sentenced to death at least 14 people who were wrongfully convicted. However, thus far, the state has no entity or set of procedures to identify the common causes of wrongful conviction. Texas should invest in an Innocence Advisory Council that would help to decrease the possibility of conviction of the innocent and, in turn, increase conviction of the guilty.
As a state entity, an Innocence Advisory Council should conduct investigations of all post-conviction exonerations in order to identify errors and defects in the criminal procedure used to prosecute the exonerated individuals’ cases. The Texas Innocence Advisory Council should produce publicly-available annual reports – based on its research findings and input by prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement personnel, legal scholars, legislative representatives, and victim advocates – that would identify specific problems in Texas’ criminal justice process contributing to wrongful convictions and propose solutions to correct and prevent future wrongful convictions. Through its work, the Council would raise awareness of the issues surrounding wrongful convictions, positively impact public trust and confidence in the State’s justice system, and decrease the overall cost of the prosecution, trial, and appeal processes.