International Wrongful Conviction Day

October 2, 2019 marked the 6th 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.  Wrongful conviction researchers also note that African Americans are about 6 times more likely to be incarcerated compared to their white counterparts.  Although African Americans compose approximately 13% of the overall U.S. population, African Americans represent 47% of the known exonerations of wrongfully convicted people.

According to The National Registry of Exonerations, the average amount of time spent in prison for wrongfully convicted people is 8.9 years.  There have been several wrongfully convicted people who were incarcerated for decades.  Ledura Watkins of Detroit, Michigan spent 41 years in prison after his murder conviction was overturned in 2017.  Lewis Fogle, of Indiana County, Pennsylvania spent 33 years in prison after he was exonerated in 2015.  To read the stories of more exonerated people visit The National Registry of Exonerations.  The Registry is a joint project of the University of California Irvine, University of Michigan Law School, and Michigan State University College of Law.


For more information about wrongful convictions visit:
https://californiainnocenceproject.org
www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration
www.newenglandinnocence.org/wrongful-conviction-day

Comments

  1. Sybil GilchristNovember 18, 2019 at 6:12 PM

    This is the first time I have heard of the International Wrongful Conviction Day. This is a worthy cause.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steven GilchristFebruary 2, 2020 at 6:59 PM

    I agree with you Sybil. I think that acknowledging those who have been wrongfully convicted is an important method for society to correct certain injustices. Highlighting cases about people who have been exonerated for crimes that they did not commit is very valuable in my opinion.
    -Steven Gilchrist

    ReplyDelete

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