Innocence Project Northwest Clinic - 50-State Law Surveys
Updated April 3, 2007.
Prepared by Cheryl Nyberg for Prof. Jackie McMurtrie's Innocence Project Northwest Clinic.
Access to some sources are UW restricted or require individual users to have their own LexisNexis or Westlaw IDs or passwords.
For sources of 50-state surveys on other topics, see Cheryl Nyberg's Subject Compilations of State Laws, an annual bibliography series. KF1.S93, last three years at Reference Office, previous volumes at Reference Area. You may also email Cheryl for new citations.
Best Overall Sources
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr., State Postconviction Remedies and Relief Handbook, with Forms. 2006 ed., 3 vols. KF9690.Z95W54 2005 at Classified Stacks.
Covers DNA testing, erroneous convictions, grounds for relief, right to counsel, statutes of limitations, writs of habeas corpus, and related issues. Includes citations to codes, court rules, and cases. Covers all 50 states.
Postconviction Remedies. Westlaw: PCREM. Chapter 1, State Postconviction Remedies, §13, a "Survey of Jurisdictions." PCREM § 13
Justice Project, State Legislation Database
A searchable database tracking state legislation on capital punishment, wrongful conviction, and related criminal justice topics.
Specific Topics
Follow the LexisNexis and Westlaw links to retrieve the text of the articles, which usually link the statutory citations in the footnotes to the statutory text available elsewhere on the vendor's website.
The Westlaw versions offer an additional advantage of providing selected legislative history documents.
DNA Evidence & Postconviction Testing
American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Survey of DNA Database Statutes. Survey of Post-Conviction DNA Testing Statutes
Leigh M. Harlan, When Privacy Fails: Invoking a Property Paradigm to Mandate the Destruction of DNA Samples, 54 Duke L. J. 179 (2004). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw.
Pp. 188-89, fn. 61. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers laws on DNA databases of convicted criminals' genetic profiles.
Nathan T. Kipp, Preserving Due Process: Violations of the Wisconsin DNA Evidence Preservation Statutes as Per Se Violations of the Fourteenth Amendment, 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 1245. Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw.
Pp. 1256-57, fn. 73. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers the twenty-two states that have laws on the preservation of DNA evidence. Note: Wisconsin law cited at p. 1246, fn. 8.
Ted S. Reed, Freeing the Innocent: A Proposed Forensic Evidence Retention Statute to Optimize Utah's Post-Conviction DNA Testing Act for Claims of Actual Innocence, 2004 Utah L. Rev. 877. Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 889-92. Essay. Cites to codes in footnotes. Covers the nineteen states that have biological evidence retention and disposal laws.
John T. Rago, A Fine Line Between Chaos & Creation: Lessons on Innocence Reform from the Pennsylvania Eight," 12 Widener L. Rev. 359 (2006). LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 414-15, fn. 316. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers the thirty-six states that have laws on postconviction DNA testing.
Cynthia E. Jones, Evidence Destroyed, Innocence Lost: The Preservation of Biological Evidence under Innocence Protection Statutes, 42 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 1239 (2005). LexisNexis | Westlaw
P. 1249, fn. 49. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers the thirty-nine states that have laws on postconviction DNA testing.
Pp. 1253-61. Essay. Cites to codes in footnotes. Covers laws on the preservation or destruction of biological evidence.
Brief for Respondent in Opposition. Van Poyck v. State of Florida, No. 05-751. Westlaw
Pp. 13-14, fn. 6. Citations only. Cites to session laws and codes. Covers the twenty-five states that have DNA testing laws that include "a prerequisite to testing that the results be `material' to the conviction or sentence."
Richard A. Rosen, Reflections on Innocence, 2006 Wis. L. Rev. 237. LexisNexis | Westlaw
P. 267, fn. 121. Citations only. Cites to bills and codes. Covers the twenty-six states that have laws on pretrial and postconviction DNA testing.
State Court Organization 2004, 5th ed.
Pp. 203-06, "Table 36. DNA Evidence: Post-Conviction Analysis." Table. Cites to bills, session laws, and codes. Covers criminal, felony, and other crimes for which relief may be sought; length of time biological evidence must be preserved; standard for granting DNA testing; and time limit for relief.
Expert Testimony
Weinstein's Federal Evidence, 2d ed. 6 vols. Looseleaf. 1997-date. KF8935.W39 1997 at Reference Area.
Vol. 6 includes "Table of State and Military Adaptations of Federal Rules of Evidence." Rule-by-rule, identifies state evidence rules identical or similar to the federal rules for the 42 states (including Puerto Rico) that have evidence rules based on the FRE (excluding California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Virginia, and the Virgin Islands).
Justin B. Shane, Money Talks: An Indigent Defendant's Right to an Ex Parte Hearing for Expert Funding, 17 Cap. Def. J. 347 (2005). Hein Online | Westlaw
P. 357, fn. 82. Citations only. Cites to codes and court rules. Covers the fourteen states that have capital punishment laws and that "provide defendants with at least a partial right to apply ex parte for expert assistance."
Carlton Bailey, Ake v. Oklahoma and an Indigent Defendant's "Right" to an Expert Witness: A Promise Denied or Imagined?, 10 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J. 401 (2002). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
P. 457, fn. 535. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers laws on indigent defendant's access to expert witnesses.
Amber J. McGraw, Life, But Not Liberty? An Assessment of Noncapital Indigent Defendants' Rights to Expert Assistance under the Ake v. Oklahoma Doctrine, 79 Wash. U. L. Q. 951 (2001). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 965-66, fns. 90-93. Summaries. Cites to codes, court rules, and cases. Covers laws providing expert assistance to indigent defendants.
Stephen D. Easton, Ammunition for the Shoot-Out with the Hired Gun's Hired Gun: A Proposal for Full Expert Witness Disclosure, 32 Ariz. St. L. J. 465 (2000). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 483-87, fns. 50, 54, 57, and 68. Citations only. Cites to codes and court rules. Covers laws identical or similar to Federal Rules of Evidence on expert witnesses or testimony.
Karen Chopra, The Conundrum of Expert Witness Qualifications in Michigan: Will the Legislature's Attempts to Close Pandora's Box Succeed?, 4 J. Med. & L. 1 (1999). Hein Online | Westlaw
Pp. 16-17, fn. 69. Citations only. Cites to codes and court rules. Covers laws on the admission of expert witnesses who possess the necessary "knowledge, skill, experience, training or education," including those laws similar to Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
Pp. 965-66, fns. 90-93. Summaries. Cites to codes, court rules, and cases. Covers laws providing expert assistance to indigent defendants.
Charles J. Walsh & Beth S. Rose, Increasing the Useful Information Provided by Experts in the Courtroom: A Comparison of Federal Rules of Evidence 703 and 803(18) with the Evidence Rules in Illinois, Ohio, and New York, 26 Seton Hall L. Rev. 183 (1995). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 209-10, fns. 115 and 116. Citations only. Cites to codes, court rules, and cases. Covers the twelve states that have evidence rules on expert testimony that mirror Federal Rule of Evidence 703 (fn. 115) and the twenty-seven states that have "embraced the principles of Federal Rule of Evidence 703 without substantive change" (fn. 116). Includes Puerto Rico.
P. 229, fn. 222. Citations only. Cites to codes and court rules. Covers the thirty-two states that have adopted evidence rules on the admission of authoritative publications to support or refute an expert's testimony, similar to Federal Rule of Evidence 803(18). Includes Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Susan Scott & Lynne Anne Anderson, Admissibility of Scientific Evidence: Proposed Implementation of the Guidelines of Daubert and Landrigan under the Newly Adopted New Jersey Rules of Evidence, 20 Rutgers Computer & Tech. L. J. 1 (1994). Hein Online | Westlaw
Pp. 54-55, fn. 205. Summaries. Cites to codes and court rules. Covers the twenty-four states that have laws on the use of court-appointed experts in criminal and/or other trials.
Right to Counsel
Eric M. Freedman, Giarratano Is a Scarecrow: The Right to Counsel in State Capital Postconviction Proceedings, 91 Cornell L. Rev. 1079 (2006). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 1087-88, fn. 45. Citations only. Cites to codes and court rules. Covers the thirty-three states that have capital punishment laws that "automatically appoint defense counsel in capital postconviction proceedings."
Statutes of Limitations
Reply Brief for Petitioner. Johnson v. U.S., No. 03-9685 (Jan. 10, 2005). Findlaw | LexisNexis (2003 U.S. Briefs 9685;2005 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 11) | Westlaw (2005 WL 79192)
Pp. 12-14, fns. 4 and 5. Summaries. Cites to codes, court rules, and cases. Covers statutes of limitations on collateral changes to felony convictions.
Wrongful Imprisonment / Conviction
Shelley Fite, Compensation for the Unjustly Imprisoned: A Model for Reform in Wisconsin, 2005 Wis. L. Rev. 1181. LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 1186-87, fns. 24-44. Summaries. Cites to codes. Covers the twenty states that have laws on compensation for wrongful conviction. Includes U.S.
Jonathan L. Entin, Being the Government Means (Almost) Never Having to Say You're Sorry: The Sam Sheppard Case and the Meaning of Wrongful Imprisonment, 38 Akron L. Rev. 139 (2005). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 160-61, fns. 129-32. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers the seventeen states that have laws on compensation for wrongful imprisonment. Includes U.S. (federal).
Brandon L. Garrett, Innocence, Harmless Error, and Federal Wrongful Conviction Law, 2005 Wis. L. Rev. 35. Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 48-49, fn. 62. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers the fifteen states that have laws on compensation for wrongful conviction. Includes U.S. (federal).
Michael Goldsmith, Reforming the Civil Rights Act of 1871: The Problem of Police Perjury, 80 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1259 (2005). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
P. 1269, fn. 54. Citations only. Cites to codes. Covers the fifteen states that have laws on compensation for wrongful conviction. Includes U.S. (federal).
Christine L. Zaremski, The Compensation of Erroneously Convicted Individuals in Pennsylvania, 43 Duq. L. Rev. 429 (2005). Hein Online | LexisNexis | Westlaw
Pp. 436-43. Essay. Cites to codes in footnotes. Covers the fifteen states that have laws on compensation for the wrongfully imprisoned.