Introduction

Many are inclined to regard errors of justice exclusively as ones that cause innocent persons to be arrested and convicted. Much of what has been written on justice errors, indeed, is restricted to this type of error. But the Goddess of Justice holds a balance scale with two plates, one of which supports the interests of domestic tranquility, the right of the people to be protected against crime, to ensure that justice is served by sanctioning those who violate the law. Failure to take sufficient action to prevent and respond to crime imposes costs, tangible and intangible, on victims individually and on society at large. Increases in crime tend to increase the demand for public and private interventions, at the expense of other important social goods and services: education, health care, and so on.

This chapter examines errors on this other side of the scale, and their costs. It begins with a description of “errors of impunity” and a discussion of their sources, considers their consequences, and concludes with a discussion of measures that might be taken to manage those errors more effectively, balancing them more consciously than we have in the past with errors of due process and the costs of managing the two.