Wrongful Conviction in Sexual Assault

About this book

"Wrongful Conviction in Sexual Assault: Stranger Rape, Acquaintance Rape, and Intra-Familial Child Sexual Assaults examines the phenomenon of innocent defendants who are convicted of rape and related sexual offenses. It presents findings that indicate sexual offenses are highly over represented among confirmed wrongful convictions. Drawing from Innocence Project and National Registry of Exoneration data and supplemented by social science and historical sources, the investigation explores various processes that lead to wrongful conviction, distinguishing the differential risk of wrongful conviction among stranger rape, acquaintance rape, and intra-familial child sexual assault. The book includes reference to established research on false confessions, eye witness mis-identification, erroneous expert and informant testimony, DNA evidence, racial bias, and 'manufactured' evidence. The work also introduces new terms and concepts (such as 'black box' investigation methods, the stranger rape thesis, the moral outrage - moral correction process, 'spontaneous mis-identification', victim status paths, the differential investigation challenge related to capable vs incapacitated rape victims, and the role of serial sexual offending in wrongful conviction) to clarify and illustrate unique aspects of wrongful conviction in sexual assault"--