The Death Penalty Continued Its Downward Trend in 2021
The Trump administration's revival appeared to be an outlier. Executions are becoming more and more rare.
Innocence
Why Didn't Alice Sebold Realize Her Mistake?
How a bestselling author accused the wrong man of rape
Best-Selling Author Alice Sebold Apologizes to Innocent Man Who Served 16 Years for Her Rape
Her publisher will stop distributing her memoir Lucky, which detailed the attack and aftermath.
Will Oklahoma's Governor Stop the Execution of a Man Many Think May Be Innocent?
The state’s pardon board vote to recommend clemency for Julius Jones. He’s scheduled to be put to death on Thursday.
The Government Says These Missouri Men Are Innocent. It Won't Release Them From Prison.
Kevin Strickland, Christopher Dunn, and Lamar Johnson are still paying for crimes that government officials say they did not commit.
Half of All False Convictions in the U.S. Involved Police or Prosecutor Misconduct, Finds New Report
If you’re looking for accountability, we’ve got some bad news for you.
The Missouri A.G. Is Advocating for the McCloskeys' Civil Liberties. What About Lamar Johnson's?
What is the state's position when an innocent man spends 25 years in prison?
If Bill Barr Brings Back Federal Executions, Innocent People Will Die
We need to leave ourselves room for making good when we inevitably convict the wrong people.
When They See Us Is Compelling Storytelling, but Not All Rings True
A meticulous re-enactment of the misbegotten prosecution of the Central Park Five gets a lot right.
'Some People Might Say That Ricky Fell Through a Crack in the System. This Is Not a Crack. This Is the System.'
Over 23 years ago Missouri’s criminal justice system failed a man charged with murder. This week he’s looking at his last best chance at freedom.
U.S. Prisoners Have Lost a Combined 20,000 Years of Life to False Convictions
Annual exoneration report shows growth in amount of time served and increasing levels of official misconduct.
How often are innocent persons convicted?
In a new law review article, I try to provide a realistic estimate of the rate. I come up with tentative range of somewhere between 0.016% and 0.062% -- well below the figure of 1% to 4% that is often cited as the conventional wisdom.
New York Sets Up First Statewide Panel to Investigate Prosecutorial Misconduct
District attorneys rarely ever get punished for misbehavior that puts innocent people behind bars. Is that about to change?
Rod Rosenstein Defends Bad Forensic Science
Experts warn against forms of forensic evidence that haven't been validated, but the deputy attorney general thinks that's an "erroneously narrow view."
Discovery of Police Corruption Freed Dozens of Imprisoned Americans in 2017
Government misconduct a big driver of exonerations last year.
Chicago's Chronic Police Corruption Leads to Its First 'Mass Exoneration'
Fifteen men allegedly framed by a corrupt sergeant have convictions overturned.
Man Free After Serving 25 Years for Murder Linked to Switched Bullets
The Detroit Crime Lab, shut down in 2008 for negligence, switched test bullets with autopsy bullets in order to convict Desmond Ricks.
Decades of Exoneration Stats Show Blacks More Likely to Be Wrongfully Convicted
Everything from official misconduct to bad eyewitness identifications to false confessions played roles.
Trump's Stubbornness on the Central Park Five's Guilt a Warning to Criminal Justice Reformers
Not even DNA evidence can get him to change his mind.
Glenn Ford Spent 30 Years on Death Row, Was Exonerated, Died, Yet is Still on Trial
A judge makes unfounded accusations against a dead man whose life was stolen to save the state from "automatic financial liability."
Wrongfully Convicted Man Who Spent 30 Years on Death Row Not Entitled to Compensation, Court Says
"An over-technical interpretation of the law" leaves the late Glenn Ford's family with no remuneration for the life he spent behind bars.
Innocent Man Spent 30 Years in Prison, Died a Year After His Release. Now the State Might Finally Pay
Louisiana denied modest financial compensation to Glenn Ford because he couldn't prove his "factual innocence."
Are You a Fan of Making a Murderer? Check Out These Exoneration Figures for 2015
Another record year for proving some people behind bars are innocent.
The Dreadful Criminal Justice System That Destroyed Kalief Browder
Three years in prison without a trial, often in solitary, contributed to young man's suicide.
The FBI's Forensics Disaster
This latest failure of criminal science again highlights the need for massive reforms at law enforcement agencies.
Ex-prosecutor Apologizes to Exonerated Man He Put on Death Row
"I was arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic and very full of myself."
2014 Was Another Banner Year for Letting Innocent People Out of Jail
Last year 125 people were freed from prison due to innocence, including six on death row.
The Return of Moral Panic
A scholar tries—and fails—to rehabilitate the sex-abuse hysteria of the '80s.
As Two Exonerated Men Leave Prison, the Prosecutor Who Put Them There Is Unrepentant
The egregious Joe Freeman Britt.
Huge Scandal at FBI: Dubious Forensic Evidence Used in Convictions of Hundreds, Possibly Thousands of People
Many of them on death row.
When Satan Was Spotted at Head Start
A professor tries to rehabilitate ritual-abuse prosecutions of the 1980s and '90s.
Exonerations in United States at Highest Point in 25 Years
Prosecutors increasingly willing to reevaluate cases
2013 Was a Banner Year for Letting Innocent People Out of Jail
87 were released from prison in 2013 after proving they didn't do it
Last of Fabricated 'Satanic Ritual Abuse' Prisoners Finally Freed
Texas case went back to 1992
Man Claiming Torture from Chicago Police Freed After 30 Years in Jail
Says he was tormented into confessing to a rape he didn't commit
Texas Man Remains in Prison for Years after Conviction Overturned
A remarkable amount of foot-dragging by state's justice system
'San Antonio 4' Speak Out After Release from Prison
Spent years in jail over sexual assault charges based on faulty science
Four Texas Women May Be Freed from Prison over Discredited Expert Testimony
Have been in jail from sexual assault case dating back to 1994