Peter Sullivan was locked up for a crime he didn't commit for 38 years. The Observer is providing free access to their long read on how this happened & what it reveals about the slowness of the UK judicial system to deal with increasingly self-evident miscarriages of justice.
If you are interested in the rule of law & how the system can get it so wrong then this is worth a read.
@ChrisMayLA6 Sad to hear that it is not only in sweden that this happens. Remember the story of a man who wrongfully served 12 or 14 years in prison for murder.
In the end, _he_ was able to prove himself innocent, something which countless lawyers had not been able to do for 12 years.
I think he got 1.5 million GBP in damages and left sweden forever to start a B&B in southern spain.
Horrible when the state steals 12 years of your life like that. 1.5 million GBP is not near enough.
Agreed and in this case so far no compensation at all, but even then as you say *how* could you be compensated?
@ChrisMayLA6 I think there should be compensation to the individual, but there should also be some kind of fine at a much higher level for the state itself, and that money should of course not go to the states coffers.
The idea is to make errors like that so costly, tha the government will increase its due diligence and "quality control".
@ChrisMayLA6 Haha... yes, that's certainly true. In sweden, there is a function for complaints, but since it is all the government, it's not really super effective. Marking ones own homework.
@h4890
Agreed; but as we say in the UK, that's like marking your own homework - they'd never fine themselves