Three California Wrongful Conviction Bills Advance

The California Assembly Public Safety Committee cleared three bills yesterday targeted at reducing wrongful convictions, which we reported on earlier in the process. One is aimed at curbing false confessions by way of mandatory recording of confessions, the second requires corroborating evidence for jailhouse snitches, and the last is an eyewitness ID bill that would required the California attorney general and others to devise a set of guidelines for conducting lineups.

Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed similar bills last year, but the bills have reportedly been modified this session to accommodate Arnold's concerns. Hopefully we'll see a better result this year, and the Governor will show his commitment to reducing wrongful convictions in California.

Here's the text of the bill in PDF.