One of Six is BAD

US juries get verdict wrong in one of six cases: study

Jun 28 09:55 AM US/Eastern

So much for US justice: juries get the verdict wrong in one out of six criminal cases and judges don't do much better, a new study has found.

And when they make those mistakes, both judges and juries are far more likely to send an innocent person to jail than to let a guilty person go free, according to an upcoming study out of Northwestern University.

"Those are really shocking numbers," said Jack Heinz, a law professor at Northwestern who reviewed the research of his colleague Bruce Spencer, a professor in the statistics department.

Recent high-profile exonerations of scores of death row inmates have undermined faith in the infallibility of the justice system, Heinz said.

But these cases were considered relative rarities given how many checks and balances - like rules on the admissibility of evidence, the presumption of innocence and the appeals process - are built into the system.

"We assume as lawyers that the system has been created in such a way to minimize the chance we'll convict the innocent," he said in an interview.

"The standard of proof in a criminal case is beyond a reasonable doubt - it's supposed to be a high one. But judging by Bruce's data the problem is substantial."