TOO MANY WRONGFULLY CONVICTED - The Innocence Project

THE QUESTION NOBODY CAN ANSWERWe don’t know how many innocent people are in prison. 1 The individualsin this booklet are the first 200 proven innocent through DNA testing — and therewill surely be many more, as the Innocence Project and other organizations in theInnocence Network continue exonerating people nationwide.We do know that those who are exonerated by DNA are a subset within asubset — a fraction of cases that have evidence that still exists and can yield DNA results,within the tiny fraction of cases that even have DNA evidence as part of the crime.Very few cases involve physical evidence that could be subjected to DNAtesting (for example, it is estimated that, even among murders, only 10% of caseshave such evidence).The Innocence Project receives more than 3,000 letters per year fromprisoners nationwide, and Innocence Network organizations receive many more.At any given time, the Innocence Project is actively evaluating 6,000 to 10,000 cases.Approximately 33% of DNA cases that are ultimately closed by the Innocence Projectare closed because the evidence has been lost or destroyed.By the time they write to the Innocence Project or another organization,innocent prisoners have lost multiple appeals and have spent years incarcerated forcrimes they did not commit. Many of them have concluded, understandably, that thetruth will never come to light, so they do not seek help.42 | Innocence Project