National Registry of Exonerations

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The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the

exonerations in the United States since 1989. As of February 6, 2020, the Registry has 2,551 known exonerations in the United States since 1989.[1] The National Registry does not include more than 1,800 defendants cleared in 15 large-scale police scandals that came to light between 1989 and March 7, 2017, in which officers systematically framed innocent defendants.[2][3]

The co-founders of the Registry are

pleaded guilty. The new report reveals many more exonerations than previously found.[6]

The National Registry of Exonerations is the largest and most detailed compilation of exoneration data ever made.[6][7]

Data

Exonerations may be browsed and sorted by name of the exonerated individual,

DNA evidence was involved in the exoneration, and factors that contributed to the wrongful conviction.[8] Race is the focus of a March 7, 2017, report that says,[2]

African Americans are only 13% of the American population but ... 47% of the 1,900 exonerations listed in the National Registry of Exonerations (as of October 2016), and the great majority of more than 1,800 additional innocent defendants who were framed and convicted of crimes in 15 large-scale police scandals and later cleared in "group exonerations." ... The main reason for this racial disproportion in convictions of innocent drug defendants is that police enforce drug laws more vigorously against African Americans than against members of the white majority, despite strong evidence that both groups use drugs at equivalent rates. African Americans are more frequently stopped, searched, arrested, and convicted—including in cases in which they are innocent. The extreme form of this practice is systematic racial profiling in drug-law enforcement.

The registry also indicates whether a co-defendant or a person who might have been charged as a codefendant gave a confession that also implicated the exoneree and whether the false conviction case involved "shaken baby syndrome" or child sex abuse hysteria.[8] The exoneration also includes a glossary of terms.[9]

For all exonerations listed in the original 873 cases identified, the most common were

forensic evidence (24%) and false confession (16%). Inadequate legal defense also played a role in some cases of wrongful conviction.[8][10]

Perhaps more interestingly deathpenaltyinfo.org reports 68.3% of homicide exonerations arise from perjury or false accusation, And 68.3% of homicide accusations also arise from official misconduct.[ https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/dpic-analysis-causes-of-wrongful – convictions]

The exoneration data indicates that factors contributing to

child sex abuse exonerations are almost all because it is later determined that no crime occurred.[6]

By March 2017 the total on the Registry exceeded 2,000.[11] A 2017 report highlighted that although African Americans form 13% of the American population, they accounted for 47% of the exonerations on the Registry. To which must be added most of the 1,800 additional innocent defendants who were framed and convicted of crimes in 15 large-scale police scandals and later cleared in "group exonerations".[2]

Potential victims of injustice

In 2014 a study involving the Registry found that 4% of those sentenced to death in the US turned out to be innocent. This 4% error rate has been extrapolated by commentators to the 2.2 million people in prison in the United States, giving them a figure of 88,000 innocent people behind bars, few of which have access to attorneys and innocence projects to appeal their cases.[11]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The National Registry of Exonerations
  2. ^ a b c Gross, Samuel R.; Possley, Maurice; Stephens, Klara (March 7, 2017), "Race and wrongful convictions in the United States" (PDF), report, National Registry of Exonerations, Newkirk Center for Science and Society, U. of CA Irvine, retrieved 2017-03-17
  3. McClatchy Newspapers
    .
  4. ^ Samuel R. Gross & Michael Shaffer, Exonerations in the United States, 1989-2012: Report by the National Registry of Exonerations m June 2012.
  5. ^ Andrew Cohen, Wrongful Convictions: A New Exoneration Registry Tests Stubborn Judges (May 21, 2012). The Atlantic.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Hilary Hurd Anyaso, Registry Tallies Exonerations Since 1989 (May 21, 2012). Northwestern University.
  7. ^ David G. Savage, Registry tallies over 2,000 wrongful convictions since 1989 (May 20, 2012). Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ a b c Browse the Registry, National Registry of Exonerations.
  9. ^ Glossary, National Registry of Exonerations.
  10. ^ Jorge Rivas, 50 Percent of Those Exonerated in National Registry are Black, Color Lines (May 22, 2012).
  11. ^ a b "Sky Views: Are 88,000 inmates in US jails innocent?". Sky News. 2 April 2017.

External links

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