In Canada’s criminal justice system, people are sometimes found guilty of crimes that they did not commit. These errors are known as wrongful convictions.
The number of wrongful convictions in Canada is unknown. This is in part because it is very difficult for a person who is wrongfully convicted to establish their innocence, particularly after they have exhausted their right to appeal to higher courts.
Wrongful convictions appear to affect some groups more than others. For example, women, youth and Indigenous people experience various forms of pressure from authority figures to plead guilty. In addition, the process of reviewing a conviction can take several years, making it less useful to people who are serving shorter sentences.
A series of public inquiries conducted over the past several decades have highlighted some of the factors that contribute to wrongful convictions, including racial bias, unreliable witness testimony and tunnel vision. Each inquiry has also produced recommendations for improving the justice system.
One consistent recommendation has been to consider creating an independent body to review wrongful convictions. In 2024, Parliament enacted legislation establishing the Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission, an independent investigative body tasked with reviewing such cases to determine whether a new trial or new appeal is warranted. This function was previously the responsibility of the Minister of Justice.
Read the full text of the HillStudy: Wrongful Convictions in Canada
By Robert Mason, Library of Parliament
Categories: Executive summary, Health and safety, Law, justice and rights