Estimating wrongful convictions

Although numerous cases of wrongful convictions have been documented in the literature and in the media, criminologists have yet to devise a methodology for estimating the extent of such errors in the criminal justice system. I explore several methodologies with this purpose in mind, including the use of official data, inmates' self-reports, and case study approaches. Specifically, I use court-ordered discharges from imprisonment as a basis for measuring official error. In addition, I employ data from the RAND inmate surveys to estimate the extent of convicted offenders who deny their commitment offenses. Studies that attempt to catalogue individual wrongful convictions also serve as a basis for estimating false positive errors. Each methodology has its own limitations, but by employing multiple measures and approaches, I make possible an estimate of the “dark figure” of wrongful convictions.     

Wrongful birth,wrongful conception

Nach der dem Behandlungsvertrag zugrundeliegenden Wertung ist sowohl bei wrongful birth als auch bei wrongful conception eine Verrechnung ideeller Vorteile der Elternschaft mit dem Unterhaltsschaden ausgeschlossen. Aufgrund des von § 97 StGB vorgegebenen Schutzzwecks des Vertrags ist bei wrongful birth lediglich der behinderungsbedingte Mehraufwand und nicht auch der Basisunterhalt zu ersetzen. In den F?llen von wrongful conception ist hingegen für den gesamten Unterhaltsschaden zu haften.     

Why wrongful birth actions are right

A wrongful birth action is a claim in negligence brought by parents of a child against a doctor who has "wrongfully" caused their child to be born. These claims can be divided into two categories: those where a doctor performs a failed sterilisation procedure that leads to a healthy child being born; and those where a doctor fails to provide sufficient information to allow parents to choose to abort a handicapped child. The recent decision of the High Court of Australia in Cattanach v Melchior (2003) 77 ALJR 1312 falls into the former category. The decision to allow the parents to receive damages for the costs of raising and maintaining their child has generated much public debate. Despite the endorsement of this "wrongful birth" action, there are indications that the legislature will overturn the decision. This article examines whether there is a sound doctrinal basis for recognising wrongful birth actions.     

Grief and involvement in wrongful death litigation

The theory of grief work, symbolic interaction theory, and family systems theory are used to gain theoretical perspective on the impact on a family of involvement in wrongful death litigation. Involvement in litigation may speed up, slow down, or alter an individual litigant's grieving, and any of these effects may alienate the litigant from nonlitigant kin. The completion of litigation, no matter what the outcome, may lead to renewed or to new grieving and relationship problems. The theoretical analysis includes discussion of the entanglement of the attorney in the individual grief process and in family tensions.     

The moral status of wrongful life claims

A wrongful life action is a claim brought by a disabled child who asserts that but for a physician's negligence he or she would not have been born, thereby being spared the suffering of life. The action is inherently controversial because the alternative to an impaired life is non-existence. Lord Griffiths has described such claims as 'utterly offensive; there should be rejoicing that the hospital's mistake bestowed the gift of life upon the child.' This paper cuts through the rhetoric that the debate has generated and analyses whether there is a sound doctrinal basis for recognizing wrongful life actions.