Interconnected Failures: An Ecological Systems Analysis of Wrongful Convictions in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

Аннотация

This study applies an ecological systems theory framework to examine the complex, interconnected factors contributing to wrongful convictions in the U.S. criminal justice system. Moving beyond isolated explanations, the analysis considers multiple systemic levels—including individual, institutional, community, and societal influences—that interact to produce judicial errors. Key elements such as police misconduct, prosecutorial overreach, inadequate defense, systemic bias, and sociopolitical pressures are explored as part of a broader ecosystem of failure. By situating wrongful convictions within this multidimensional context, the study highlights the need for holistic reform strategies that address the structural and cultural dynamics underpinning miscarriages of justice. Keywords: Wrongful convictions, U.S. criminal justice system, ecological systems theory, systemic failure, judicial error, prosecutorial misconduct, structural injustice, legal reform, mass incarceration, institutional bias. 20th century [9, 56, 58, 59]. The first DNA exoneration Introduction: The integrity of any criminal justice in the U.S. involved Gary Dotson in 1989, a landmark system hinges on its capacity to accurately identify and case that vividly demonstrated the fallibility of justly punish the guilty while safeguarding the traditional evidence and ignited the "Innocence innocent. However, the phenomenon of wrongful Movement" [3, 8, 36, 43]. This movement, comprising convictions—where an individual is found guilty of a legal clinics, advocacy groups, and researchers, has crime they did not commit—represents a profound systematically identified and analyzed the common failure of this fundamental principle, undermining contributing factors to these miscarriages of justice, public trust and inflicting devastating consequences on including eyewitness misidentification, false individuals, families, and communities [15, 33]. While confessions, flawed forensic science, and prosecutorial the exact prevalence of wrongful convictions remains misconduct [15, 39, 40]. challenging to quantify, estimates suggest that they are far from rare, with some studies indicating that While these individual factors are well-documented, a between 2% and 10% of felony convictions may be comprehensive understanding of wrongful convictions erroneous [17, 19, 60]. Since 1989, over 3,400 necessitates a framework that acknowledges their exonerations have been recorded in the United States, interconnectedness and the systemic nature of their revealing a persistent and systemic issue within the origins. This article proposes applying Urie justice system [38]. Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as an analytical lens to examine wrongful convictions within The recognition and documentation of wrongful the U.S. criminal justice system [5, 6]. Bronfenbrenner's convictions have gained significant momentum, theory posits that human development is influenced by particularly with the advent of DNA testing in the late International Journal of Law And Criminology 1 https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijlc International Journal of Law And Criminology (ISSN: 2771-2214) multiple layers of interacting environmental systems: • Legal Reviews and Books: Foundational texts the microsystem (immediate environment), and contemporary analyses of legal processes, case mesosystem (interactions between microsystems), studies, and systemic issues contributing to exosystem (indirect influences), macrosystem (broader miscarriages of justice [4, 13, 15, 16, 26, 32, 34, 35, 43, cultural values and ideologies), and chronosystem 44, 45]. (changes over time) [5, 6]. • Reports from Innocence Organizations: By adopting an ecological perspective, this study aims Publications from entities like the National Registry of to move beyond a simplistic enumeration of causes to Exonerations (NRE) and the Innocence Project, which explore how failures at various systemic levels interact compile data on exonerations and identify contributing and compound, creating a fertile ground for erroneous factors [18, 20, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]. These reports often convictions. The purpose is to demonstrate that provide crucial statistics and case examples. wrongful convictions are not merely isolated incidents • Government Reports: Documents from attributable to single errors but rather emergent agencies such as the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) properties of a complex, interconnected criminal and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and justice ecosystem. This approach will illuminate the Technology (PCAST) that address wrongful convictions, systemic vulnerabilities, cognitive biases, and societal forensic science, and criminal justice reform [33, 34, 35, pressures that contribute to these profound injustices, 51]. offering a more holistic understanding that can inform • Historical Accounts: Works detailing the history more effective and comprehensive reform efforts. of wrongful convictions and