Crucial Errors in Murder Investigations

Ted Duhs

Why is it that some people are convicted of murders that they did not commit, while others are not convicted of murders that they did commit?
Australian Police Services are generally well funded, so something more must be involved. Just what that is, is investigated in this book.
To minimise the prospect of future errors, we need both to scrutinise past cases where errors have been revealed, and to investigate police training procedures with a view to uncovering any errors of omission or commission, to see what scope there is for improvements.
Each of us has good reason to take an interest in such matters, since any one of us could be a victim if we are in the wrong place at the wrong time. In fact all of us are victims to the extent that some guilty parties continue to walk free on our streets, and as taxpayers all of us fund the additional costs of dealing with crime, including the sizeable compensation payments that are made to those whose wrongful convictions are quashed.
This book deals with instructive cases which continue to agitate the public mind, and makes practical suggestions for improved procedures.