Wrongful Convictions as Rightful Takings: Protecting 'Liberty-Property'

Abstract:     
We have an imperfect system of criminal justice in which we try our best to be right most of the time, but in which people inevitably will be wrongfully convicted. The conventional approach of treating wrongful convictions as "failures" of the criminal justice system leaves wrongfully convicted people free but uncompensated for the harm they have suffered: they are set free to be poor. This article proposes that wrongful convictions a reconstructed Just Compensation jurisprudence in "relational" terms compels the provision of compensation for those wrongfully convicted.

Keywords: Wrongful Convictions, Takings, Just Compensation

JEL Classification: K42, K19, K14, K11, J79, J49, J41, J38, J22, J17, I32, I31

Accepted Paper Series