NEWS RELEASE

Ref: 830-838/005

Federal-Provincial-Territorial Meeting of Ministers responsible for Justice
Ottawa, Ontario - January 24-25, 2005

PREVENTION OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS: SIGNIFICANT MEASURES
PROPOSED BY MINISTERS OF JUSTICE

OTTAWA, January 25, 2005 – Federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) Ministers responsible for Justice today released a major new report on the prevention of miscarriages of justice.

“A wrongful conviction is a failure of justice in the most fundamental sense,” the report states. “If there is one theme that emerges from all of the recommendations in this report, it is vigilance – everyone involved in the criminal justice system must be constantly on guard against the factors that can contribute to miscarriages of justice.”

The report was prepared by the Working Group on the Prevention of Miscarriages of Justice of the FPT Heads of Prosecutions Committee, composed of senior prosecutors and police from across the country.

The report, which took more than two years to prepare, contains a series of recommendations for prosecutors and police on how to prevent wrongful convictions.

Ministers thanked the members of the Working Group for their diligent work in reviewing the issue and noted the Heads of Prosecutions Committee has already set up a permanent committee of prosecutors and police to follow up this report. As well, individual prosecution services have begun to review their policies and practices in light of the recommendations.

Ministers also lauded the strong collaboration that produced this report, in part with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, viewing it a clear signal that prosecutors and police take the issue of wrongful convictions seriously.

These issues will also be discussed at a major international conference on wrongful convictions, entitled Unlocking Innocence: Avoiding Wrongful Conviction, which Manitoba will host in October 2005. (www.wrongfulconviction.ca)

The full report is available online at http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/hop/.

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Reference:

Rob Finlayson Manitoba Justice 204-945-2873

Stephen Bindman Department of Justice Canada 613-957-4930

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Backgrounder: FPT Heads of Prosecutions Committee Working Group on the Prevention of Miscarriages of Justice

The Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Heads of Prosecutions Committee was created in 1995 and brings together those who are responsible for criminal prosecutions in Canada. It is comprised of the Head of Prosecutions for each province, the Head of the Federal Prosecution Service – who also acts as Permanent Co-Chair – as well as the local directors of prosecutions of each of the three Territories.

The Committee established the Working Group on the Prevention of Miscarriages of Justice in the fall of 2002, in response to a number of wrongful convictions across the country and the various reports of commissions of inquiry they generated. The group’s mandate was two-fold:

• to develop a list of best practices to assist prosecutors and police to better understand the causes of wrongful convictions; and
• to recommend proactive policies, protocols and educational processes to guard against future miscarriages of justice.

The Working Group included prosecutors with many years of experience, both trial and appellate. It was chaired by the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Manitoba.

The Group also benefited from extensive participation in its work by representatives of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP).

Report

The Working Group’s 155-page report includes a chapter on each of the issues that have been identified, both in Canada and elsewhere, as the key factors that contribute to wrongful convictions:

• tunnel vision
• mistaken eyewitness identification and testimony
• false confessions
• in-custody informers
• DNA evidence
• forensic evidence and expert testimony
• education

The report concludes that a wrongful conviction “is a failure of justice in the most fundamental sense” and says that public confidence in the administration of justice is fostered by demonstrating that participants in the criminal justice system are willing to take action to prevent future miscarriages of justice.

The Working Group notes that various commissions and studies, in Canada and around the world, have provided valuable insight into the systemic causes of wrongful convictions and into what has gone wrong in individual cases. “What is startling, however, is that some problems, themes and mistakes arise time and time again, regardless of where the miscarriage of justice took place. These problems relate to the conduct of police, Crowns, defence lawyers, judges and forensic scientists, and they are not confined to proceedings in the courtroom.”
The report notes that when a miscarriage of justice occurs, it is not usually the result of just one mistake, but rather a combination of events. “Therefore, just as the problems and errors are multi-layered, so too must the solutions also be multi-faceted. The responsibility to prevent wrongful convictions, therefore, falls on all participants in the criminal justice system. Police officers, Crown counsel, forensic scientists, judges and defence counsel all have a role to play in ensuring that innocent people are not convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.”

The report concludes that everyone involved in the criminal justice system must be constantly on guard against the factors that can contribute to miscarriages of justice. Indeed, the Working Group believes that individual police officers and prosecutors, individual police forces and prosecution services, and indeed the entire police and prosecution communities, must make the prevention of wrongful convictions a constant priority.

Recommendations

The report contains 40 recommendations for individual police officers and prosecutors, police and prosecution services, as well as the Heads of Prosecutions Committee as an organization.

The recommendations stress the need for continuing education for prosecutors and police and urge each prosecution service to develop a comprehensive written plan for educating its Crown attorneys on the causes and prevention of wrongful convictions. The report recommends the creation of a virtual resource center for police and prosecutors on the prevention of wrongful convictions and the establishment of a permanent Heads of Prosecutions committee on the prevention of wrongful convictions.

The Working Group’s recommendations are aimed primarily at the most serious of offences, particularly homicides. These are the cases where the risk of long-term incarceration, and hence the consequences of a wrongful conviction, are the greatest. However, some of the recommendations are applicable to other offences, when feasible.

References:

Rob Finlayson Manitoba Justice 204-945-2873

Stephen Bindman Department of Justice Canada 613-957-4930

 

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