Former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno spoke at the University of Wisconsin Law School Wednesday to address the problem of wrongful conviction and to propose solutions to improve the American criminal-justice system.
Reno’s lecture, co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, focused on the importance of DNA testing to ensure innocent defendants are not mistakenly sent to jail.
“We have a window through post-conviction DNA testing to show where the system has failed,” Reno said.
Over the past 10 years, 143 Americans have been exonerated due to DNA testing.
To make sure Americans continue to believe in the legal system, Reno said the United States must “renew its commitment to protecting the innocent.” The former AG, however, assured that strides in DNA testing, as well as other reforms, are not attempts to reduce the number of convictions but rather to ensure that the correct person is sentenced to jail.
“The law can be fair. The law can be just,” she said, adding all Americans, particularly those going into the law, can and must work to secure civil liberties for U.S. citizens.
Failures in the prison system were addressed as well, as Reno pointed to the 2.1 million inmates in American jails, 40 percent of whom are African American, as proof that underlying societal issues concerning crime must be confronted as well. She said the key to solving many of these issues is putting money and energy into prevention efforts like rehabilitation programs and, most importantly, into children.
“If we are going to do something about crime, if we are going to do something about sentencing, we have got to do it early,” Reno said, adding spending money to prevent crime is less costly in the long run than the $40 billion spent on the prison system each year.
Reno urged persons in the legal system to stop resorting to the “blame game” when undertaking reforms. She used the 9/11 commission as an example of “dwelling on finger-pointing,” saying those testifying must use the trial as an opportunity to talk out what led to the terrorist attacks rather than imparting blame on others.
“I hold myself responsible,” Reno said, saying she admits mistakes were made under the Clinton administration as well as under Bush that could have led to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Reno said “constructive, non-political” discussion must be done when confronting the Patriot Act as well, urging people to refrain from “politicizing” the law and instead working for reform.
Reno will be testifying today before the Avery Commission on wrongful convictions. Last year, Steven Avery was exonerated for a 1985 sexual assault incident when DNA evidence proved his innocence; the Wisconsin Innocence Project worked on Avery’s behalf.
Appointed by Clinton in 1993, Janet Reno is the first and only female attorney general in U.S. history.
