The Adolph Beck case is an example of wrongful conviction due to mistaken identity. Beck was convicted in Britain of misdemeanor and felony offences by jury trial in 1896 and again by judge in 1904.
His wrongful conviction led to the Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Case of Mr. Adolf Beck (1904), and the creation of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division in 1907.
References
- Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Case of Mr. Adolf Beck (1904), 62 Parl. Command Paper 2315 – University of Michigan
- Adolf Beck, 1877-1904 – UBC Law Library
- The Strange Story of Adolph Beck – UBC Koerner Library
- Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department of the Departmental Committee and Evidence of Identification in Criminal Cases (Devlin Report, 1976) – onsite at Vancouver Courthouse Library
- "Adolf Beck". By Edwin Borchard, Convicting the Innocent: Sixty Five Errors of Actual Justice, –University at Albany