International Wrongful Conviction Day
October 2, 2019 marked the 6 th annual International Wrongful Conviction Day. Wrongful Conviction Day is intended to raise awareness and find solutions regarding wrongful criminal convictions. International Wrongful Conviction Day also seeks to limit the factors that lead to wrongful convictions. There are numerous economic and social challenges for individuals who are wrongfully convicted. Over the past several years, more than 60 innocence organizations have been established worldwide to help wrongfully convicted people to be released from prison. According to The National Registry of Exonerations, since 1989 there have been over 2,515 people exonerated for crimes that they did not commit. The main factors that typically lead to someone being wrongfully convicted are: perjury/false accusation, law enforcement malfeasance, mistaken identification, forensic science errors, coerced confessions, and ineffective legal counsel for defendants. ...