Lessons Not Learned - The Innocence Project

exeCUTIVe sUMMARY
Throughout New York State, 23 people have been exonerated
through DNA testing after being convicted of crimes they did not
commit. Each one was arrested, jailed, convicted and served years
in prison before the hard science of DNA proved innocence. Combined,
they served 260 years in prison. Only two other states in the
nation, Texas and Illinois, have seen more convictions overturned by
DNA evidence.
Among these 23 New Yorkers whose lives were shattered by wrongful
convictions, seven since 2000 were wrongfully convicted of murder
– more than in any other state in the nation in the same period of
time. Six of those seven men could have received the death penalty
if it were an option at the time of their convictions or if prosecutors
had sought it, and one of them was charged with a capital crime but
escaped the death penalty.
The DNA exonerations in New York reveal serious problems in the
state’s criminal justice system – problems that profoundly impact
individuals’ lives and entire communities, and demand serious solutions.
Common-sense remedies that are proven to decrease the
potential for wrongful convictions have been introduced in the New
York Legislature in various forms over the last several years. Last year,
a comprehensive package of reforms was introduced in the Legislature
but did not pass.
exeCUTIVe sUMMARY
sInCe 2000, seVen
oF neW YoRK’s
DnA exoneRees
WeRe WRonGFULLY
ConVICTeD oF
MURDeR – MoRe
THAn In AnY oTHeR
sTATe In THe nATIon
In THe sAMe PeRIoD
oF TIMe.
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