Along with the known causes of wrongful conviction of mistaken eyewitness identification, jailhouse informants, and faulty scientific evidence, Florida’s Innocence Commission has added a new leading cause: lack of adequate funding.
In its 171-page final report, the 23-member commission said that during their review of the other causes of wrongful conviction, it soon became clear that budget cuts were a key factor in the wrongful conviction of innocent defendants. Insufficient funding in Florida has led to overwhelming caseloads and inability to hire and continue to train prosecutors, public defenders and state laboratory technicians.
Commissioner Alex Acosta, dean of the law school at Florida International University, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “If one is serious about doing something about wrongful convictions we must recognize that a lack of funding is the most serious threat that implicates the state attorneys, public defenders, the attorney general, criminal conflict counsel and the judiciary.”
The report listed several specific funding recommendations including student loans so career lawyers can expand their education, funding for training programs and more lab equipment, and expansion of the state’s DNA testing facilities and the DNA database. “All of the other recommendations of the commission are secondary. More funding is fundamental to our rights and the system of law,” said Acosta.
The Florida Innocence Commission presented their findings to the Florida Supreme Court on June 28th and now it is up to the legislature to decide whether to enact any of the recommendations.
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