The Victimology of a Wrongful Conviction: Innocent Inmates and Indirect Victims

189 Pages·2022·4.684 MB·English

by  Nicky Ali Jackson, Kathryn M. Campbell, Margaret Pate

“In Victimology of a Wrongful Conviction: Innocent Inmates and Indirect Victims, Drs. Nicky Jack-
son, Kathryn M. Campbell and Margaret Pate powerfully position the experiences of people
whoarewronglyconvictedas‘victims’ofacriminallegalsystemindesperateneedofreform.
The authors take their analysis one-step further, and extend the victimology framework to
the other victims of wrongful convictions - the families of the wrongly convicted, the ori-
ginal survivors of actual crimes, and society at large. Grounded in qualitative research and in
victim theories, this book is a welcome and compelling addition to the wrongful conviction
literature.”
Jessica S. Henry, author of Smoke but No Fire: Convicting the
Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened.
“The subject matter of the Victimology of a Wrongful Conviction: Innocent Inmates and Indirect
Victims – is an important contribution to the study of wrongful convictions. Professors Jack-
son, Campbell, and Pate have undertaken a tremendous task – to situate the experiences of
the wrongly convicted as victims, and their families as secondary victims of a state crime –
and they have succeeded. They have also forced readers to confront the realities that exon-
erees and their families experience – enduring great emotional, psychological and financial
hardships, similar to other crime victims. This comprehensive, academic analysis of the victi-
mology of a wrongful conviction, is a must-read for innocence scholars and victimologists.”
Mark Godsey, author of Blind Injustice: A Former Prosecutor Exposes the
Psychology and Politics of Wrongful Convictions.

THE VICTIMOLOGY OF A WRONGFUL
CONVICTION
Thisbookexposesthemyriadofvictimsofwrongfulconvictionbygoingbeyondtheinnocent
person who has been wrongfully incarcerated to include the numerous indirect victims who
suffercollaterally.Innowayoverlookingtheegregiouseffectsonthewrongfullyconvicted,this
bookwidensthenettoalsoexamineconsequencesforfamily,friends,co-workers,witnesses,the
initialvictimsofthecrime,andsocietyingeneral–allindirectvictimswhoareoftenforgottenin
treatmentsofwrongfulconviction.
Through interviews of exonerees and indirect victims, the authors capture the tangible and
intangiblecostsofvictimizationacrosstheboard.Theprisonexperienceisexaminedthroughthe
lens of an innocent person, and the psychological impact of incarceration for the exoneree is
explored.Specialattentionisgiventotheoften-ignoredexperienceoffemaleexonereesandto
theimpactofraceasacompoundingfactorinavastnumberofmiscarriagesofjustice.Thebook
concludeswithanoverviewofthevictimizationexperiencesthatfollowexonereesuponrelease.
Unique to this book is its interdisciplinary approach to the troubling subject of wrongful
conviction, combining perspectives from a number of fields, including criminal justice,
criminology, victimology, psychology, sociology, social justice, history, political science, and
law. Undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines will find this book helpful in
their respective areas of study, and professionals in the legal system will benefit from appre-
ciation of the far-reaching costs of wrongful convictions.
Nicky Ali Jackson is Professor and Coordinator of Criminal Justice in the Department of
Behavioral Sciences at Purdue University Northwest (PNW). Dr. Jackson is the Executive
Director of the Center for Justice and Post-Exoneration Assistance at PNW. She also serves as
President of the Willie T. Donald Exoneration Advisory Coalition. Dr. Jackson is a 2021 reci-
pientoftheprestigiousSagamoreoftheWabashAward,thehighestcivilianhonor,bestowedby
IndianaGovernorEricHolcombforherhumanityandservicetothecitizensofIndiana.
Kathryn M. Campbell is a Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of
Ottawa,Canada,andhaspublishedextensivelyintheareaofmiscarriagesofjustice.Dr.Campbellis
the faculty director of Innocence Ottawa, a pro bono, student-run innocence project aimed at
helping the wrongly convicted who are seeking exoneration apply for conviction review to the
MinisterofJustice.
Margaret Pate is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Radford
University. Dr. Pate is also the Associate Director in the Office of Undergraduate Research &
ScholarshipatRadford.

THE VICTIMOLOGY OF A
WRONGFUL CONVICTION
Innocent Inmates and Indirect Victims
Nicky Ali Jackson, Kathryn M. Campbell and
Margaret Pate
Coverimage:Pitiphothivichit
Firstpublished2023
byRoutledge
605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158
andbyRoutledge
4ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2023NickyAliJackson,KathrynM.Campbell,MargaretPate
TherightofNickyAliJackson,KathrynM.Campbell,MargaretPatetobeidentifiedas
authorsofthisworkhasbeenassertedinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,
DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilisedinany
formorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,
includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,
withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregisteredtrademarksand
areusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Acatalogrecordforthistitlehasbeenrequested
ISBN:978-0-367-63904-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-367-63719-4(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-12125-1(ebk)
DOI:10.4324/9781003121251
TypesetinBembo
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
CONTENTS
List of illustrations ix
Foreword x
Lenore E. Walker
Preface xii
Jeffrey Mark Deskovic
Acknowledgements xvi
PART1
Victimology: The Wrongly Convicted as Victims 1
1 Introduction: Definitions, Methodology, and Demographics 3
Nicky Ali Jackson
2 Victimology: Theoretical Perspectives and their Applications to the
Wrongly Convicted 11
Nicky Ali Jackson
3 The Nature and Extent of Wrongful Convictions 23
Kathryn M. Campbell
4 Victimizing the Innocent: Racism, Wrongful Convictions, and
Exonerations of Black Men in the Criminal Legal System 35
Angela Hattery and Earl Smith
PART2
The Many Victims of a Wrongful Conviction 55
5 The Exoneree as Victim 57
Nicky Ali Jackson
viii Contents
6 Female Victims of a Wrongful Conviction: Continual Marginalization 71
Kathryn M. Campbell
7 Families as Victims of a Wrongful Conviction 87
Margaret Pate
8 Revictimization of the Original Victim 103
Margaret Pate
9 Society as a Victim of a Wrongful Conviction 115
Kathryn M. Campbell
10 Post-Release Victimization: “Freedom Is Never Free” 124
Nicky Ali Jackson
11 Final Thoughts and Future Considerations 138
Kathryn M. Campbell and Nicky Ali Jackson
Appendix 143
References and Further Reading 145
Index 162
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Gender of Exonerees 7
1.2 Race of Exonerees 7
1.3 Age at False Arrest 7
1.4 Time Spent Falsely Imprisoned 8
1.5 Charges for Wrongful Convictions 8
1.6 Familial Relationship to Exoneree 8
4.1 Median Net Worth by Household Income and Race. Courtesy
Hamilton Project (2020), Brookings Institution. 46
4.2 Exonerations by Race and Crime. Courtesy of the Innocence Project
(2021). 48
4.3 Exonerations in Relation to Crimes Committed 49
6.1 Female Exonerees’ Charged Crimes 75
6.2 Female Exonerees’ Sentence Lengths 76
6.3 Female Exonerees’ Time Served 76
10.1 Male Exonerees’ Employment Status 126
10.2 Female Exonerees’ Employment Status 126
Tables
5.1 Physical and Psychological Consequences Shared by Wrongly
Convicted and Prisoners of War 69
5.2 Physical and Psychological Consequences Shared Among the
Wrongly Convicted and Battered Women 70