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Three bills aimed at reducing the number of wrongful convictions in California's criminal justice system passed a vote in the state's Assembly Public Safety committee yesterday, and will head to the Appropriations Committee next. The bills have already passed the state Senate.

• One bill mandates the electronic recording of interrogations of suspects in custody for homicide or a violent felony, in an effort to reduce the number of false confessions and coerced confessions.

• Another bill calls on the Attorney General to develop new guidelines for law enforcement lineups presented to crime witnesses. Eyewitness accounts of crimes are known to be unreliable, and a witness's identification of the alleged perpetrator of a crime by picking him or her out of a lineup is rife with problems.

• The third bill calls for corroborating evidence for any testimony of a jailhouse informant regarding a crime. A jailhouse informant is a person in jail or prison who makes incriminating allegations regarding what he or she may have heard about or from an individual housed in the same facility. This testimony has been used against individuals, but it has been shown repeatedly that jailhouse informants sometimes lie or fabricate testimony in order to receive a reduction in their criminal sentence or another benefit.

Leading Causes of Wrongful Convictions

False confessions, lineup problems, and jailhouse testimony are each a leading cause of wrongful convictions, according to the Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, a 2004 initiative designed to reduce the number of innocent people put in California prisons and jails. The bills were formulated by the commission after extensive study and public hearings.

Second Versions

Similar bills passed both houses last year, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed each, citing various concerns. This year, the three measures passed the committee on a straight party-line vote, with the four Democrats voting in favor and the two Republicans voting against the measures. If the bills pass the Appropriations Committee, they'll be subjected to a vote on the Assembly floor, after which Gov. Schwarzenegger will have the choice to sign them into law or veto them.

(Source: Los Angeles Times online)

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