Conviction integrity units, also called Conviction Review Units, are usually part of the local prosecutor’s office. These are independent units with their own independent and committed staff, generally part of the prosecutor’s office. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, there are now fifty-two CIUs in the United States. Despite their presence, prosecutors still face hurdles when attempting to vacate wrongful convictions, often due to procedural barriers
and no legal remedy to vacate a wrongful conviction. These obstacles highlight the need for a legal framework that supports prosecutorial efforts to ensure justice.
They will also work with other parties, legal professionals including forensic experts to review the original case for prosecutorial misconduct, false confessions, coercion, eyewitness misidentification or unreliable forensics. They are responsible for, prevent and identify false convictions and when necessary, remedy wrongful convictions. Their focus is on investigating and then addressing any injustices in past criminal cases. The goal is to identify systemic faults in the local justice system and to make changes to improve the outcomes with the aim is to exonerate the innocent. These units may focus on cases where there may be new evidence or uncover problems with the original case. If they determine that the conviction was biased for whatever reason they can request post-conviction release, either a new trial or total exoneration. They may also review individual cases with controversial convictions. These units work to ensure accountabilities for all in the law enforcement community to strengthen trust in the justice system for all of us. The request for review can come from the convicted person, a representative of that person or their lawyer.
The conviction integrity unit in Connecticut is within the office of the Chief State’s Attorney and was formed in January 2020. Their goal is to safeguard that the criminal justice system is operating fairly. They use best practices policies, implementing guidelines that have been created by other states which were modified to fit Connecticut’s particular criminal justice system. All cases are first screened by a review panel which is made up of prosecutors, (not involved in the case) a state of Connecticut judge or a federal judge and a licensed Connecticut attorney familiar with the state’s criminal defense practices. As of December 2022, this unit had reviewed 131 cases and after investigations has closed 52 of these. At that time 79 were still open to investigation.
If Conviction Integrity Units were put in place we could cut down on wrongful convictions. All of these things are possible; the only deterrent is people are set in their comfortable ruts and do not want to do anything different. Their solution is to build bigger prisons and make the treatment inside harsher, as if treating people as animals has ever worked.