wrongful conviction 冤假错案

"We should fully understand that lawyers are an integral part of the legal community, an ally of the courts and an irreplaceable force in preventing wrongful convictions," Shen said in an article published in People's Court Daily.

沈德咏在《人民法院报》的文章中指出：“我们要充分认识到，律师是法律职业共同体的重要一员，是人民法院的同盟军，是有效防范冤假错案的无可替代的重要力量。”

Wrongful convictions字面意思为“错误定罪”，也就是我们常说的“冤假错案”。Conviction指法庭对犯罪嫌疑人的“定罪”，如果“不服判决，提出上诉”就可以用appeal against one’s conviction来表示。

沈德咏认为，在目前有罪推定（presumption of guilt）思想尚未完全根除、无罪推定（presumption of innocence）思想尚未真正树立的情况下，冤假错案发生的概率甚至可以说还比较大。对此，法院人员必须保持清醒的认识，要像防范洪水猛兽一样来防范冤假错案，宁可错放，也不可错判（it is even preferable to spare guilty people than to hand down wrongful punishment to the innocent）。