sevenkerop.blogg.se

Innocent Black people are about seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people, and Black people who are convicted of murder are about 50% more likely to be innocent than non-Black people convicted of murder.

As a result, African Americans make up 47% of exonerations even though they are only 13% of the population. Overworked and underfunded defense lawyers lack the resources to vigorously test the prosecution’s evidence at trial, and people who are wrongly convicted and imprisoned have no right to counsel after their cases are affirmed on direct appeal.Īfrican Americans are burdened by a presumption of guilt that most defense lawyers are not prepared to overcome. Inadequate lawyers can cause wrongful convictions, too. In 2015, EJI won the exoneration and release of Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row after being wrongfully convicted of capital murder based on a faulty bullet match, and Beniah Dandridge, who spent 20 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted based on an erroneous fingerprint match. Neufeld, “ Invalid Forensic Science Testimony & Wrongful Convictions ,” 95 Virginia L. Innocent people have been convicted because forensic lab workers made errors in testing, testified inaccurately about their results, or fabricated results. Many forensic techniques aren’t scientifically validated. Other leading causes of wrongful convictions include mistaken eyewitness identifications, false or misleading forensic science, and jailhouse informants.įaulty forensics also lead to wrongful convictions. 5 The National Registry of Exonerations, “ Exonerations in 2018” (Apr.

In 2018, a record number of exonerations involved misconduct by government officials. 4 The National Registry of Exonerations, “ Basic Patterns” (Nov. More than half of wrongful convictions can be traced to witnesses who lied in court or made false accusations.