The number includes 9 exonerations in California.
According to a recent report released by the National Registry of Exonerations, the number of exonerations of wrongfully convicted prisoners dropped this past year, from 171 in 2016 to just 139 in 2017. The National Registry of Exonerations is a joint project of the University of California Irvine Newkirk Center for Science and Society, University of Michigan Law School and Michigan College of Law.
There is no way of knowing exactly how many wrongfully convicted people are in prison today. However, the National Registry of Exonerations tracks those who are released from prison due to a number of factors, such as official misconduct by police, prosecutors and other government officials, mistaken eyewitness identification, false confessions, perjury, and false accusations.
In 2017, Texas had the greatest number of exonerations at 23, followed by Illinois (21), Michigan (14), and New York (13). California had 9 exonerations in 2017. Most of the exonerations (98) involved violent felonies, ranging from homicide to child sex abuse to sexual assault. In a shocking 66 cases, no crime was actually committed. Four of the people exonerated in 2017 had been sentenced to death.
Many of the exonerations that occurred in 2017 were due to what is known as “group exonerations” in Chicago and Baltimore. These happened because it was discovered that police were systematically framing people for drug crimes — planting evidence and otherwise committing misconduct that led to the conviction of innocent people.
Importantly, more than half of the exonerations that occurred were a result of a relatively new phenomenon known as Conviction Integrity Units, along with innocence organizations. Conviction Integrity Units are offices within prosecutors offices that investigate old cases to determine if a person had been wrongfully convicted. Together with innocence organizations, such as the Innocence Project and wrongful conviction clinics that are run by law schools, these units have helped a number of people be freed.
In California, four of the nine exonerations occurred in Los Angeles County. The remaining occurred in Ventura (2), San Diego, Shasta and Alameda Counties. The charged crimes ranged from murder and attempted murder to a traffic offense.
The work of Conviction Integrity Units and innocence organizations is vital. However, the people who have been exonerated never should have been convicted in the first place. Many of these people were wrongfully imprisoned due to police or prosecutorial misconduct. Our system must be better to ensure that no innocent person is ever jailed for a crime that he or she did not commit.
At the Chambers Law Firm, our team of Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys is dedicated to fighting for the rights of our clients. We will fight hard to protect our clients’ freedom. Contact our office today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to learn more about how we can help if you have been charged with a crime in Los Angeles or the surrounding areas, or to schedule a free initial consultation.
