That's the title of an editorial in today's Buffalo News, subtitled, "New statistics should prod the state to act against wrongful convictions." It begins today's roundup of coverage on the National Registry of Exonerations.
The problem of wrongful conviction is, we suspect, worse than most people ever thought. A new archive compiled at two universities shows that more than 2,000 people have been exonerated in the past 23 years after being falsely convicted of serious crimes. Those are only the ones who have been cleared. Who knows how many more are watching their lives slip away in prisons where they do not belong?
The problem of wrongful conviction is an under-appreciated catastrophe. Beyond the tragic unfairness of years lost behind bars is the financial and emotional impact on families and society and the hard fact that when the wrong person is in prison, the real criminal remains on the loose.
It would be one thing if nothing could be done about this problem, but there is plenty that can be done. New York just can’t bring itself to do it.
And:
New York combines one of the nation’s worst records on wrongful conviction—two recent cases occurred in Erie County—with one of the worst records at responding appropriately. It knows the problem and it knows what it needs to do. It just won’t do it.
Some of the measures supported by the Innocence Project in New York City, and adopted in other states, include changes in lineup procedures to diminish the frequency of misidentification by witnesses, and recording interrogations to guard against false confessions, an odd phenomenon that occurs with disturbing frequency.
New York’s resistance to reform goes largely unexplained, though some critics believe it is because many voters would perceive such measures as being unfriendly to police and of benefit to criminals. But the opposite is true.
Convicting the right person not only avoids putting innocent people in prison, but ensures that the real criminal isn’t out creating more victims.
"Registry tracks wrongful convictions," is the Lawrence Journal World report by Shaun Hittle.
Jordan Smith posts, "The Problem of Wrongful Conviction," at the Austin Chronicle.
Facing South, the website of the Institute for Southern Studies, posts, "Exonerations highlight criminal injustice in the South."
Earlier coverage of the Registry begins at the link.
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