Acknowledgements

Comparative law is difficult, but one of its benefits is learning from others. I have accumulated many debts in writing this book. That said, no one whom I thank should be held responsible for errors I have made or the views I have expressed.

In Australia, my friends and former co-authors Robert Moles and Bibi Sangha have been a constant source of encouragement and assistance. Mauricio Duce and Maximo Langer have helped me better understand South America, inquisitorial systems and Chile’s experience. In Japan, Makoto Ibuski shared with me not only his vast knowledge of wrongful convictions but also our common love of baseball.

In India, I thank the entire staff of the National Law School of India Review for their assistance on an article, which has been revised and now is Chapter 10. In particular, I am indebted to the following students who provided excellent research assistance: Madhav Aggarwal, Madhur Bharatiya, Kshitji Goyal, Harshit Jindal, Khwaaish Kadiyan, Anusha Sarkar and Isham Thakur. Shelby Hohmann in Canada also assisted with this research.

Carsten Momsen in Germany has been generous with his expertise about wrongful convictions in Germany and his keen comparative sense. Na Jiang has, over a number of years, been a source of inspiration and knowledge, as I have learned from her important and prolific work on wrongful convictions in China. Hualing Fu and Simon Young, both of the University of Hong Kong, provided helpful comments. I was fortunate to receive assistance on Japanese wrongful convictions from David Johnson as well as from Makoto Ibuski. Daryl Robinson made helpful comments on a draft chapter on international law. Jamil Mujuzi in South Africa read preliminary drafts of several chapters, and I learned much from his important and comparative work on compensation for miscarriages of justice.

My old friend Jacqueline Hodgson has helped both with England and with her important work on convergences between adversarial and inquisitorial systems. Both Hannah Quirk and Findlay Stark in England made comments on preliminary drafts of chapters and arranged talks at King’s College London and Cambridge, respectively, where I presented preliminary versions of this work.

In the United States, Valena Beety, Mugambi Jouet and Brandon Garrett have been especially generous with their assistance and encouragement. Although Brandon disagrees with much in this book, he has been especially helpful and made very valuable suggestions about the manuscript and invited me to Duke University to speak about my work. I thank both Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck for their many kindnesses to me over the years. Although I am critical of some aspects of the American innocence movement in this book, Peter and Barry are the liberal and anti-racist souls of the American innocence movement that has accomplished much in a hostile environment.

I also thank all the staff at the National Registry of Exonerations, especially Sam Gross and Maurice Possley. We could not have produced a Canadian registry without their help and inspiration. Moreover, they have transformed our understanding of wrongful convictions and inspired and helped researchers throughout the world to compile their own registries.

Amanda Carling and Tamara Levy have given me the benefit of their practical experiences in remedying wrongful convictions in Canada. I thank all who assisted Amanda and me in producing the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions at www.wrongfulconvictions.ca.

My colleagues Rebecca Cook, Markus Dubber, Carolyn Strange and Hamish Stewart graciously read and commented on parts of the manuscript. The staff of the Bora Laskin Law Library have responded with great skill and cheer to my many requests for hard-to-find material during the three years of writing this book. Funding from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law has made it possible for this book to be published open access, making the digital version freely available for anyone to read and reuse under a Creative Commons licence.

I thank Henry LaForme for allowing me to serve as director of research for the public consultations that led to his 2021 report, A Miscarriage for Justice Commission for Canada, with Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, Aideen Nabigon, Janice LaForme and Felicity Williams also played a key role in the public consultations with exonerees, innocence organizations, police, prosecutors, defence lawyers, judges and those who work in criminal cases review commissions in England, Scotland, Norway, North Carolina and New Zealand. This experience, one of the most rewarding of my professional life, is reflected throughout this book.

Special thanks to my colleagues Marty Friedland and Robert Sharpe. Throughout the years, both have supported me and inspired me by their understanding of the fallibility of the justice system and the importance of documenting and remedying injustices. Special thanks also to Guido Calabresi, who taught me not to be ashamed of using a legal process approach and whose influence is apparent in these pages.

Parts of Chapters 2 and 11 are revised from the article “International and Comparative Law on Compensating Miscarriages of Justice: From Proven Innocence to Wrongful Detention” (2024) 62 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 721. I thank the editors of that journal for their assistance and permission to use parts of that article in this book.

Parts of Chapter 10 are revised from the article “Wrongful Convictions, Wrongful Prosecutions and Wrongful Detentions in India” (2023) 35(1) National Law School of India Review 250. I thank the editors of that journal for their assistance and permission to use parts of that article in this book.

It has been a pleasure to publish once again with Cambridge University Press. Tobias Ginsberg has been an excellent editor, and Gemma Smith was also very helpful in getting the manuscript to publication. Expert copy editing was provided by Asha Gopinathannair. The three anonymous reviewers made excellent suggestions that have improved the book.

As always, my greatest debt is to my family, which unfortunately has grown smaller during the research and writing of this book. My parents-in-law, Cecil and Sharon Cox; my aunt, Joan Plott; and my father, Howard Roach, all passed away while I was writing this book. They all supported me and believed in my work even when I did not. My mother, Grace Roach, has struggled with her health, but her strength and good cheer are an inspiration. My daughters, Erin Roach and Carey Roach, have listened patiently to my discussions of the book. Most of all, I could not have gotten through these last few years or this book without the help of my wife, Janice Cox.