What causes contributed to miscarriages of justice? The main causes contributing to miscarriages of justice were perjury or false accusations by prison informants and prosecutorial misconduct. Prison Informants/False Accusations : Prison informants are inmates who provide incriminating information or testimony during a criminal case against another inmate. The prevalence of informants in prisons is quite high because competition among informants is tough, information gathering techniques are rapidly changed, many inmates want to manipulate cell sharing or transfers in exchange for their testimony, many inmates have made careers by becoming informers, loss of convictions, discretion, which allows informants to bargain sentences, and finally mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines have created a market for prison informants. Warrant studies have found that 80-92% of warrants rely on informants, and in terms of exoneration cases, 46% of the 111 post-Furman death row exonerations involved informants. There are different opinions on prison informants; conventionalists argue that trusting one's own testimony may be a necessary evil, while realists argue that prison informants should not be used at all. One particular example that shows the devastating effects of validating unreliable testimony from prison informants is that of Marion Pruett, a Colorado inmate, who informed prison authorities that another inmate had killed her cellmate. In exchange for his testimony he was released and began killing and robbing banks after his release, then it was discovered that Pruett had killed his cellmate. From the past it has become clear that prison informants are an unreliable source of information. They should… half of paper… however it could help society better if features of both systems were combined to better provide justice. The ultimate goal should be to continue to develop and improve our criminal justice system to ensure that none of the innocent are wrongly convicted. Works Cited Cole S. (2014). Informants. [PowerPoint slides].Cole S. (2014). Prosecutorial misconduct. [PowerPoint slides].Cole S. (2014). Judicial repercussions. [PowerPoint slides].Killias, M, (2013). Mistakes Occur Everywhere, But Not as Frequently: The Role of Procedural Systems in Wrongful Convictions,” in C. Ronald Huff and Martin Killias (eds.), Wrongful Convictions and Miscarriages of Justice: Causes and Remedies in North American Crime European Justice Systems Possley, Maurice. "Detail of the exoneration case". 2014.