National Registry of Exonerations
The National Registry of Exonerations, a brand-new joint project between Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, released its first report on Monday. To date, it has examined nearly 900 individual cases of prisoners exonerated in the United States from January, 1989 through February, 2012.
The findings thus far? Nearly half of those were wrongfully convicted of murder, and 101 were wrongfully sentenced to death:
"The National Registry of Exonerations gives an unprecedented view of the scope of the problem of wrongful convictions in the United States," said Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions. "It's a widespread problem."
In the criminal justice system, the police and the district attorneys, ostensibly, represent the people. But policemen and lawyers are all too human, susceptible to errors and mistakes that the report determines they had little incentive to acknowledge and correct. You'd think that their goal would be, primarily, accuracy -- to find and punish the guilty while vindicating and protecting the innocent. But for a prosecutor to challenge the evidence or confessions supplied by the police is to damage that relationship, and call into question the competency and authority of both institutions.
One wrongful conviction or execution is one too many, and the NRE's report demonstrates they happen fairly frequently. As such, it's worth calling many more convictions into question.
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What happened to our ideals? I thought the whole point of having a right to a trial by a jury of ones peers was to avoid wrongful convictions.. that it was better to let 10 guilty men walk free than to convict an innocent man.
What happened to us? What have we become when we are willing to tolerate the wrongful imprisonment of citizens of our country within our own borders? That is a Fascist policy, and we are better than that, or we ought to be.
What happened is that there are some self serving people that will convict by any means possible to advance their own careers since conviction rates bring promotions. Unfortunately, it is difficult to be principled in a corrupt world that brings harsh consequences for those that speak out against "their own". Few want to put their own careers and families at risk so they turn their backs on what they know is wrong. A perfect example of a horrific injustice can be found at FREEPAULCORTEZ.ORG! This man was wrongfully convicted and all those barriers that are set up to hide the truth in our justice system have allowed him to be a prison for over 6 years hoping one day to have the chance to have the truth be found. Ask yourself why it takes decades to have the truth be revealed in a DNA test that costs $30.00?
To bear free will implies the right to choose,
Yet one must bear the burdens of each choice.
Some say, “For one to gain, another must lose,”
But helping each other helps ease sacrifice.
The right of arms implies the right to kill,
Yet, who are you, to judge who’ll die or live?
The right to life, so strong, yet so fragile,
Requires you to honor it and forgive.
For every right that you feel you deserve
Implies the need to give that right to others,
For you must see the truth that sages observe –
Our souls eternal bind us all as brothers.
Every right must bear responsibility
For consequences we may not foresee.
Melissa,
I wished you folks explored the following on today's show.
What about the young black men who are told by lawyers you have two options?
Option One: Plead out to a lesser sentence. Maybe 5-10 years.
Option Two: Face the American Justice System as a young black man and get 40 years to life?
A lot of young black men face this scenario every day in a Court of Law. Option three is never an option. "I didn't do it and I'm innocent." That is almost never an option to young black men facing the American judicial system.
For all we know, there is one black man running around the country committing all these crimes. Barry Scheck basically outlined that by saying White Folks can't tell Obama from Flava Flave.