Dataset of Wrongful Conviction Cases in South Africa

Wrongful conviction is broadly defined as the conviction of an innocent person for a crime that they did not commit (i.e., “wrong person” crimes) or a crime that did not actually occur (i.e., “no-crime” cases). The overturning of such a conviction in the United States of America (USA) is referred to as an exoneration. The National Registry of Exonerations (NRE), which is a database of all known exonerations in the USA, contained 3,737 cases as of October 2025. International research has identified numerous factors that contribute to wrongful convictions, with psychological studies focusing particularly on eyewitness misidentification and false confessions. In South Africa (SA), however, wrongful conviction remains a largely unexplored area of enquiry. This research used a qualitative, aggregated case study design and had two primary aims: first, to systematically collect and analyse cases of wrongful conviction in SA, with a specific focus on cases involving eyewitness misidentification and/or false confessions; and second, to establish a South African database of wrongful convictions using these cases. The cases contained herein are the cases used in this research and are presented in the format of a coding sheet (similar to what is used by international registries). This coding sheet, as per the second aim of this research, is available for download subject to discretionary approval.