More Than 2,000 Wrongfully Convicted People Exonerated in 23 Years
According to studies conducted by two major university law schools, more than 2,000 people were falsely convicted of serious crimes over the past 23 years in the United States. This new national registry or database was painstakingly assembled by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law.
The group of wrongfully convicted exonerated people accounts for more than 10,000 total years in prison with an average incarceration of more than 11 years each. DNA led to exoneration in nearly one-third of the cases.
In two out of three of the homicide cases, perjury or false accusation was the most common factor leading to false conviction. In four out of five sexual assault cases, mistaken eyewitness identification was the leading cause.