TOO MANY WRONGFULLY CONVICTED - The Innocence Project

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We may never know how manyinnocent people are in prison.Instead, we ask how manymore will have to beexonerated through thehard science of DNA beforeevery jurisdiction in thecountry enacts reforms thatcan prevent this injusticein the first place.1 Recent research sheds some light on that number, however. Professor Samuel Gross of the University of Michigan has calculated that 2.3% of allprisoners sentenced to death between 1973 and 1989 were exonerated and freed; the total number who were actually innocent is almost certainlyhigher. Professor Michael Risinger of Seton Hall Law School estimates that between 3.3% and 5% of defendants sentenced to death for murdersinvolving rape between 1982 and 1989 were innocent. And an initial review of 29 rape convictions with untested DNA from the files of the VirginiaDepartment of Forensic Science found two false convictions, or 7%. There are over two million inmates in American jails and prisons. If as few as 1%are innocent, that would mean we are keeping more than 20,000 innocent men and women behind bars – and the true number may be much higher.www.innocenceproject.org | 43
The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck andPeter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at YeshivaUniversity to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing.To date, 200 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing,including 14 who served time on death row. These people served an average of 12years in prison before exoneration and release. The Innocence Project’s full-timestaff attorneys and Cardozo clinic students provided direct representation or criticalassistance in most of these cases. The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use ofDNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongfulconvictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects.Now an independent nonprofit organization closely affiliated with Cardozo School ofLaw at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project’s mission is nothing less than to freethe staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bringsubstantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.Photo CreditsCenturion Ministries7. Richard Johnson9. Steven Toney15. AB Butler18. Danny BrownThe Innocents: Photographsby Taryn Simon4. Walter Snyder5. Brian Piszczek6. Ronald Cotton11. Timothy Durham13. Ron Williamson13. Dennis Fritz14. Habib Wahir Abdal14. Clyde Charles16. Larry Youngblood16. Roy Criner17. James O’Donnell19. Charles Irvin Fain19. Calvin Washington20. John Dixon22. Richard Danziger23. Hector Gonzalez24. Douglas EcholsVoice of Innocence19. Ulysses Rodriguez Charles28. Paul TerryCenter on Wrongful Convictions2. Gary Dotson3. Steven Linscott8. Kenneth Adams8. Willie Rainge23. Alejandro Dominguez25. Paula Gray26. Dana Holland28. Michael Evans39. Marlon PendletonLoren Santow/The Illinois Death PenaltyEducation Project6. Rolando Cruz7. Alejandro Hernandez8. Verneal JimersonSusan Rutberg33. Peter RoseKim A. Marks22. Arvin McGeeJennifer Linzer21. Larry MayesRachel Morrison5. Frederick Daye7. Vincent Moto17. Anthony Robinson19. Eduardo Velasquez23. Larry Johnson24. Eddie Joe Lloyd24. Albert JohnsonMark Graham35. Entre Nax KarageFrancisco Kjolseth/Reprinted with permission ofThe Salt Lake Tribune32. Bruce Dallas GoodmanDona Ann McAdams withGeorge Castelle3. Glen Woodall6. William Harris7. Gerald Davis7. Dewey Davis14. James Richardson14. Larry HoldrenBill Farrington38. Scott FappianoSpringfield News-Leader15. Armand Villasana© Dan Gair/Blind DogPhoto, Inc.6. David Shephard9. Frederic Saecker10. Anthony Hicks15. Herman Atkins22. Chris Ochoa23. Clark McMillan24. Marvin Anderson25. Samuel Scott28. Kenneth Wyniemko31. Clarence Harrison33. Brandon Moon34. Robert Clark37. Orlando Boquete38. James Tillman40. Gregory Wallis41. James WallerStrategic Graphic Design: Simon Does, LLC • www.simondoes.com44 | Innocence Project
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