When people think about post-conviction litigation in criminal cases, they often think of claims of actual innocence — efforts to prove that someone who was wrongfully convicted did not commit the crime at all. But a different and equally important type of claim focuses not on innocence, but on fairness — whether the defendant received a fair trial, regardless of guilt or innocence.
At first glance, fairness claims and innocence claims can look similar. Both types of claims are often raised in appeals and post-conviction proceedings. Both aim to identify serious errors that undermine confidence in a verdict. Both typically seek new trials or new sentencing hearings rather than immediate exoneration. Procedurally, both types of claims require careful attention to the trial record, and both often rely on demonstrating that the original trial was flawed in ways that matter.
But fairness and innocence are fundamentally different ideas. A trial can be unfair even if the defendant is guilty. Most criminal trials are not contests over whether the defendant committed the physical acts in question. Instead, trials often focus on what inferences should fairly be drawn from those acts.
For example, a trial may involve no dispute that the defendant shot and killed the victim — but the real issue for the jury is whether the defendant reasonably acted in self-defense. In another case, there may be no doubt that the defendant committed murder — but the jury must decide whether the defendant deserves the death penalty or whether mitigating circumstances make life imprisonment more appropriate. In either situation, the fairness of the trial matters. Jurors must hear relevant evidence and make decisions free from prejudice, without being influenced by inadmissible evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, or other trial errors and omissions.
It is also possible that a fundamentally fair criminal trial resulted in the wrong person being convicted. There are cases of honest mistaken identity. A fair process may lead to a wrongful conviction. (Although research shows that unfairness is often a contributing factor in wrongful convictions.)
At Fair Trial Analysis, we focus on the fairness of criminal trials, not on claims of actual innocence. Our work is inspired by the innocence movement, which has made profound contributions to the justice system. But conceptually, our work is distinct. We recognize that fairness matters whether or not the defendant is ultimately innocent. A fair trial is essential to maintaining the legitimacy of verdicts and sentencing decisions, and to protecting the integrity of the justice system itself.