MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — A new book co-edited by WVU Law professor Valena Beety sheds light on wrongful convictions in the U.S. justice system.
“The Wrongful Convictions Reader” (Carolina Academic Press, 2018) includes articles of leading research, law, and policy analysis gathered by Beety and Georgia State law professor Russell D. Covey.
Topics include eyewitness misidentification, false confession, DNA, junk science, prosecutorial misconduct and post-conviction review.
Acclaimed trial lawyer Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, wrote the book’s introduction.
He says that “Professors Covey and Beety make wise selections from a rich, interdisciplinary literature that demonstrate how dramatically the examination of wrongful convictions has influenced experimental psychology and forensic science.”
Beety is director of the West Virginia Innocence Project at WVU Law. She specializes in criminal procedure, causes of wrongful conviction, prisons and policing. She is a former federal prosecutor and has litigated innocence cases in Mississippi and West Virginia.
Georgia State University law professor Covey specializes in criminal law, wrongful convictions and criminal procedure.
An extensive PowerPoint presentation and other teaching materials accompany “The Wrongful Convictions Reader.”
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