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Investigative Facts – AFI-LLC – August 2023 3 of 7

September Commentary: Wrongful Convictions and Comprehensive Investigations

False confessions and false accusations seem to be the “norm” these days. Add to
the mix one-angle sighted police officers, prosecutors, and jurors, you get
wrongful convictions. These wrongful convictions take years to undo and those
years taken away from the wrongfully convicted can never be given back.

Even when a lawsuit brings monetary gains to the wrongfully convicted, the wrong
done can never be erased from their minds as well as the minds of others. Even
when you have “exonerated” on your criminal record, some people believe you
must have done something and are only getting off on some legal
technicality. Yes, those legal technicalities do exist although rare, and the numbers keep mounting up for the innocent
victims of our judicial system.

Although you cannot have a perfect system, simple changes can add up to fewer wrongful convictions. To start what
can be done is to conduct thorough investigations. Looking at all angles of facts and then following through until you
prove or disprove any evidence obtained. Too often evidence is tossed aside because it does not fit the current mind set
of the individual doing the investigation, whether it is in the government or private sector. This type of investigation is
not a thorough investigation, it is a lazy one-angled investigation, and it is assisting in the devastation of the wrongfully
accused.

Money seems to be an issue in conducting a thorough investigation. However, the money utilized in the investigative
process is far less than the money lost in lawsuits. Educating the public on “real” investigations and what it truly takes to
follow through rather than what they see on television, which has become known as the “CSI” effect. These individuals
watching CSI may be part of a jury one day, which could lead to either the innocent being sent to prison or possibly
death, or the guilty being set free back into our society.

Not only do the wrongfully convicted live a nightmare in prison, the families and friends of the victims in these cases
have to relive their nightmare all over again. Remember, when the wrongfully convicted are put behind bars, the
families and friends of the victims believe the right person was convicted in the crime of their loved ones. Then to find
out years later the wrong person was convicted in the crime, the fight for their personal justice starts all over again.

All professional investigators should pride themselves in conducting thorough investigations no matter how big or small
the case may be. It does not matter the type of case working on, they need to be worked from every angle possible. A
one-angled investigation is not acceptable. Think of looking through the lens of a camera, you can take a one-angled
photo which may give you a few facts needed in your investigation; or you can take a panoramic photo and get perhaps
all of the facts, the good, the bad, and the ugly, needed in your investigation.

Find below links to the innocence project as well as a few cases recently in the news of wrongfully accused and
convicted innocent human beings whose lives were unnecessarily turned completely upside down.

• www.innocenceproject.org
• www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/24/onetime-top-football-prospect-seeks-exoneration
• www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-20/wrongful-convictions-
exonerations/55098856/1#.T7pBTjS0Edg.email
• www.denverpost.com/ci_20591067/prosecutor-led-effort-frees-convicted-man
• www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/wrongful-convictions-a-new-exoneration-registry-tests-
stubborn-judges/257416

It is important to note a wrongful conviction is not limited to guilt or innocence. Most often the underlying issue in the
wrongful conviction is specific to the charge(s). For example, a person may be wrongfully convicted of a degree of

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