Date of Award

5-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

School of Criminal Justice

Content Description

1 online resource (v, 99 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

James R. Acker

Committee Members

Alissa P. Worden, Justin T. Pickett, Robert J. Norris

Keywords

Compensation, Criminal justice, Policy, Public opinion, Wrongful conviction, Judicial error, Compensation for judicial error, Reparation (Criminal justice)

Subject Categories

Criminology

Abstract

People who are wrongfully convicted are a unique vulnerable group. However, not all exonerees get compensated for their time in prison. This research explores public opinion on compensating wrongful convictions from erroneously rejected affirmative defenses and from false guilty pleas. Using a randomized survey experiment of 1,000 US adults, this research found that (1) most respondents supported wrongful conviction compensation, regardless of wrongful conviction types and plea status. (2) Wrongful conviction types matter. People supported compensating exonerees in the self-defense case as much as in the wrong person case. The amount of compensation people gave in the mistaken self-defense case was smaller than that in the self-defense case, and larger than that in the insanity case. (3) People equally supported compensating the exonerees whether they falsely pled guilty or not. The findings could inform policymakers of an appropriate wrongful conviction compensation scheme and have implications for the intake policies of innocence organizations. The results also furthered the understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the compensation decision-making process.

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