Abstract

FERNANDEZ RUIZ, José Manuel  and  OLAVARRIA AVENDANO, Malva. Revisiting the wrongful conviction claim. Polít. crim. [online]. 2018, vol.13, n.26, pp.1190-1285. ISSN 0718-3399.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-33992018000201190.

The aim of the present research is to re-examine, from an analytical yet empirically informed point of view, the state of the interpretation of the wrongful conviction claim as regulated by the Chilean Code of Criminal Procedure during the last 10 years. Specifically, we will emphasise the necessity to understand the structure of such remedy through a description which though controversial we claim is the correct description of the model provided by the legislator. From the examination of the wrongful conviction claim it will appear clearly that the Supreme Court has been unable to grasp de central aspects of what we designate “adversarial model”. The inaccurate grasping of this model, as we show, is supported on the traditional doctrinal description that characterizes the claim as exceptional and admissible only before instances of “manifest injustice”. We explain those central aspects from a theoretical and practical point of view, examining cases and comparative law, considering the recent data from empirical research done on the matter. The central aim of the research is not the examination of the ethology of the factors that may explain the existence of wrongful convictions, but to provide a substantive examination of the rulings of the Supreme Court during the 2007-2017 period, from an analytic and practical point of view in light of the correct interpretation of the legal regulation.

Keywords : Wrongful conviction claim; wrongful conviction; judicial errors; newly discovered evidence.

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