人身自由為人類生活之重大法益，惟今此自由權遭受侵害時，仍得發現其救濟、補償或賠償有所不足之處。本文係由冤獄之意義及其造成原因出發，就美國現行法制以普通法上之侵權行為、一八七一年之聯邦人權法及聯邦、各州之冤獄補償特別立法為被害人之請求基礎，及其所面臨之要件上證明不易及主權免責權所造成實際被害人請求上之困難而為討論，並就近來學者提出以徵收
條款為解決之道為相互辯證，並藉此為我國司法補償制度作為思考方向及建議。

For wrongfully convicted individual in United States, traditional tort law
claims, such as malicious prosecution, and Section 1983 of the federal law
provide legal remedies and compensation. In addition, twenty-one states have adopted wrongful conviction statutes providing compensation for individuals wrongfully convicted and incarcerated. However, due to various reasons,claims based on those remedies are almost universally unsuccessful. As a result, some American legal scholars have proposed a new methodology for providing compensation to the wrongfully convicted. The new methodology suggests that the federal Just Compensation Clause can be used for providing appropriate remedies and compensation.