The Criminal Justice Section of the ABA has proposed an amendment to Model Rule 3.8 to elevate the ethical obligations of prosecutors. The proposed amendment states that " When a prosecutor knows of new, credible and material evidence creating reasonable likelihood that a convicted defendant did not commit an offense of which the defendant was convicted, the prosecutor shall: (1) promptly disclose that evidence to an appropriate court or authority, and (2) if the conviction was obtained in the prosecutor's jurisdiction, (A) promptly disclose that evidence to the defendant unless a court authorizes delay, and (B) undertake further investigation, or make reasonable efforts to cause an investigation, to determine whether the defendant was convicted of an offense that the defendant did not commit." Furthermore, '[w]hen a prosecutor knows of clear and convincing evidence establishing that a defendant in the prosectuor's jurisdiction was convicted of an offense that the defendant did not commit, the prosecutor shall seek to remedy the conviction." (See report by the Criminal Justice Section at http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/policy/rule3-8amend.pdf)
The objective of this amendment is to reduce the number of erroneous convictions as a result of not disclosing expulpatory evidence in spite of the obligation to do so by the prosecutors. This amendment calls for a very high ethical standard for prosecutors to abide by. Though the amendment may seem idealistic, it is a very formidable ethical standard for the legal profession that pershaps only members of a mature and civil society are capable of following.