Towards an Asian registry of wrongful convictions

Abstract

Wrongful convictions represent a persistent yet unevenly documented problem across Asian criminal justice systems. While international research has identified common factors contributing to known wrongful convictions, systematic information about wrongful conviction cases in Asia remains fragmented and difficult to compare across jurisdictions. This fragmentation limits cross-jurisdictional learning and comparison of documented cases. This paper synthesizes existing research on contributing factors in documented wrongful conviction cases in Asia and reviews current initiatives addressing such cases. It then showcases an operational map for the Asian Registry of Wrongful Convictions (ARWC), an academic documentation platform designed to record final criminal convictions that were later officially corrected or acknowledged as erroneous. By setting out the registry's scope and finality requirement, its inclusion criteria and how they were developed, its partial harmonization strategy, documentation workflow, and feasibility, the paper offers a concrete next step toward improving transparency and comparative understanding of wrongful convictions in Asia.