About
Sandra Lean
Sandra Lean is an author and researcher on the subject of miscarriages of
justice. Her first book, No Smoke (available on
Amazon) highlights
several cases of wrongful conviction and examines the many factors that make
these convictions possible. Sandra is currently studying for a PhD, which has
been sponsored by The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research -
www.sccjr.ac.uk.
Since 2002 Sandra has felt
compelled to help innocent victims who have suffered a major injustice. Without
payment, she has spent thousands of hours going through evidence and trial
transcripts with a fine toothed comb, helping the legal teams out with her time
and expertise. She does this because she is passionate about helping these
falsely accused and wrongfully convicted people in any way she can, and because
she is appalled that the British Judicial system is as flawed as it is, letting
so many people down.
When a person suffers a false
allegation or a wrongful conviction, it is not just the victim who suffers.
Their whole families also become innocent victims, and relationships are pushed
to their limits.
It is not uncommon for family
members to lose friends as well, because most people believe that for someone to
go to court, and furthermore for them to become convicted, they must surely be
guilty of the crime, and that their loved ones must certainly be naïve and
deluded for protesting their innocence.
What the vast majority of people do
not realise is that it is NOT uncommon for an innocent person to become falsely
accused or wrongfully convicted. In fact the current system in Britain actually
enables a bad situation to snowball incredibly easily, and once someone is
falsely imprisoned, it is even harder for them to obtain a successful appeal
against their conviction, again because the system makes it much easier not to
grant an appeal, than to grant one.
For example, a defence team that
was unprepared or incompetent at trial can act equally irresponsibly at an
appeal, leaving the poor defendant to finish their sentence with little or no
hope of ever clearing their name. When innocent people are convicted, they often
have no experience or knowledge of the Criminal Justice System. Even if they
feel their legal team is not up to the job, they are at a complete loss as to
what to do about it.
Often the only hope of getting a
fair trial is to enlist very expensive barristers. This can mean that total
costs end up being in excess of £80,000 so this is simply not an option for most
people. So they are left at the mercy of the defence teams under Legal Aid, who
will spend a fraction of the time studying the evidence that a private barrister
will spend.
People like Sandra, who are willing
to go through the evidence, transcripts, etc, can help, but often a defence team
that has performed poorly at trial will simply close ranks, refusing any outside
assistance, and hiding behind excuses of "confidentiality". Yet, for a team with
nothing to hide, Sandra is, after all, only offering to significantly cut their
workload and bring her knowledge and experience of miscarriages of justice to
the case.
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