In an editorial in the Albany Times Union, the editorial board calls for the New York legislature to finally pass bills aimed at protecting defendants from wrongful conviction.
“For all the law-and-order bills that move through legislatures like New York’s in a typical year, laws that would protect people from what is, ultimately, wrongdoing by government seem to be a tough sell among lawmakers. Protecting the innocent should be no less important than punishing the guilty, yet a number of proposals to keep the justice system honest seem to again be languishing this year,” they said.
Among the bills the article mentions are laws expanding videotaping of interrogations and reforms to eyewitness lineup procedures. Earlier this year, New York governor Andrew Cuomo resisted efforts to attach similar reforms to his bill expanding the list for which DNA samples must be taken from defendants. He also resisted an amendment that would allow the expanded database to be used to prove innocence.
The Times Union had this to say in response, “One of the most fundamental tenets of the American justice system is that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If lawmakers and the governor truly believe that, they’ll give the innocent a better chance against a system whose mistakes can be as unjust as any crime.”
Read the full editorial comment here.