Dealing With the Racial Nature of Wrongful Convictions The vast majority of the wrongfully convicted who are exonerated through DNA evidence are people of color. The numbers dont lie. At a time when the killing of innocent black men by police is causing many to question the fundamentals of Americas criminal justice system, we are reminded that black lives matter. However, we should also remember that the same flawed system that allows for the fatal shooting of Michael Brown or the choking death of Eric Garner also places innocent people behind bars and sends them to death row. The Innocence Project and the NAACP have partnered to address the problem of wrongful convictions, and prevent them from occurring in the first place. The Innocence Project has compiled data on the 324 people who have been exonerated through DNA evidence in the United States. Of these wrongfully convicted individuals, 70 percent are people of color, and 63 percent are African-American. They spent an average of 13.5 years in prison, collectively a total of over 4,339 years. And 6 percent received a death sentence. huffingtonpost/david-a-love/dealing-with-the-racial-nature-of-wrongful-convictions_b_6337850.html
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:40:16 +0000
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