California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday announced his creation of a new legal team that will investigate "wrongful or improper" criminal convictions from the past.
The new Post-Conviction Justice Unit, the first of its kind at the state level, will "work to support integrity in the criminal legal system and seek to remedy cases where there have been miscarriages of justice," Bonta's office said.
"Whether it's as a result of bias, changes in forensics, or any other issue, our system is not foolproof and we must make every effort to ensure the integrity of prosecutions in our state," Bonta said in a prepared statement.
The move is part of a broader trend of prosecutors nationwide acknowledging faults in the criminal system and their role in and responsibility for redressing miscarriages of justice.
Many local prosecutors offices already have such units, including the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Former District Attorney Jackie Lacey launched that office's unit in 2015, and current District Attorney George Gascón renamed it — as the Conviction Integrity Unit — and has touted it as a critical component of his office.
The trend has in part been driven by independent groups — such as the California Innocence Project — finding repeated success in proving wrongful convictions and freeing people from prison.
Such successes have uncovered missteps and even misdeeds by prosecutors in the past, calling their integrity and the integrity of the convictions they won into question. Prosecutors have launched their own review teams to take ownership of the process and at times admit to the mistakes of their staffs in the past.
Bonta's office said its new unit will work with local district attorneys to "conduct investigations and reviews aimed at resolving wrongful or improper criminal convictions, including matters where there may be evidence of significant integrity issues, and to identify cases that may be suitable for potential resentencing."
It will also step in to conduct reviews in localities that do not have their own conviction integrity units, his office said.
The state team will provide "statewide leadership" in the area, including by developing a set of best practices for such reviews and coordinating with local conviction integrity units. The new unit will be led by two deputy attorneys general, who will establish formal protocols for accepting cases for review.
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