The government has made significant strides over the past 30 years assisting individuals gain freedom after being wrongfully convicted. According to a recent study, exonerations have more than doubled, growing an average of 24 per year from 1989 through 1999 to an average of 52 per year from 2000 through 2010.
Wrongful conviction cases used in the study spanned 29 states and the District of Columbia. Over 50 percent involved murder. Of those wrongfully convicted, eight (three percent) were female, 22 (eight percent) were minors at the time of arrest and 13 (five percent) had a cognitive/mental health limitation.
“A Study of Victim Experiences of Wrongful Conviction” was sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to ascertain information regarding the range and frequency of issues victims face as they proceed through the exoneration process.
“The majority of the wrongfully convicted persons were African American (49 percent) and Caucasian (40 percent), with Hispanics comprising five percent of those wrongfully convicted,” according to the study.
A high proportion of wrongful convictions involved sexual offenses such as rape (27 percent) and/or other sexual offenses (25 percent). In addition to these allegations, eyewitness misidentification contributed to more that 50 percent of the wrongful convictions, the study shows.
Improper forensic science (29 percent), government misconduct (25 percent), false confessions (20 percent), false testimony (16 percent), informants/snitches (11 percent) and ineffective legal counsels (11 percent), respectively, were also contributing factors in the wrongful convictions process, the study added.
In the majority of these cases (65 percent), more than 10 years had passed between the original conviction and the subsequent exoneration. In 20 percent of these cases, more than 20 years had passed.
Approximately 52 percent of the exonerations identified in this study involved DNA evidence. This is the most common factor of these exonerated cases, followed by recantation (28 percent) and a confession by the actual offender (18 percent), who was identified in 83 (31 percent) of the reviewed cases, the study added.
To gain a better understanding of the impact of crime on victims, the DOJ-sponsored agent, ICF International, used surveys from 23 service providers that reported working with victims of a violent crime during or following exoneration.
A number of agencies reported working with victims of rape (41 percent), murder (27 percent), aggravated assault (18 percent), domestic assault (9 percent) and robbery (5 percent). They reported that 43 percent of the cases involved eyewitness misidentification. Victim service providers initiated notification for 58 percent of these victims.
To adequately render the proper services for victims, the study found those agencies made these recommendations: (1) treat victims with sensitivity and compassion; (2) provide victims with information on the exoneration process, DNA testing and common causes of wrongful conviction and (3) offer victims access to both short- and long term care.
The majority of these victims (88 percent) first learned about the potential wrongful conviction prior to the exoneration.
