Criminal Justice University » exonerated http://www.criminaljusticeuniversity.net >> Guide to Criminal Justice Universities Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:04:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Top 15 2009 Wrongful Imprisonment Cases http://www.criminaljusticeuniversity.net/blog/2009/top-15-2009-wrongful-imprisonment-cases/ http://www.criminaljusticeuniversity.net/blog/2009/top-15-2009-wrongful-imprisonment-cases/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:11:36 +0000 admin http://www.criminaljusticeuniversity.net/?p=270 woodwardOur judicial system does an amazing job day after day, but even the best of systems can be flawed.  Given the number of crimes committed in the U.S. and the number of people convicted every year it does seem like there are very few cases that get over-turned.  With that said, it is hard to say exactly how many more people that are in prison are actually telling the truth when they say they didn’t commit the crime.  Another debate which is actively being raised is how much should we compensate people that have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned.  It’s a tough call for sure.  It seems to us that there should be some level of compensation and I do think it is important to raise the level of awareness as to why these people were falsely convicted.  As you can see from the table below, eyewitness misidentification was a factor in most of these cases.  It’s also true that there were a few cases that the forensic scientists appear to have gotten wrong.  Here is the list of people that have been exonerated after 14 or more years (that is what the Years column in the table below represents… how long it took for them to be exonerated):

Last Name First Name
Years
 Facts

McKinney

 Lawrence
31
 Convicted of rape and burglary based upon eyewitness misidentification. He has not been compensated yet.
Burnette Victor
30
 Convicted of rape and burglary based upon eyewitness misidentification. He has not been compensated yet.
Woodward James Lee
28
 Convicted of murder based upon eyewitness misidentification and government misconduct. He has not been compensated yet.
Lindsey Johnnie
28
 Convicted of rape based upon eyewitness misidentification. He has not been compensated yet.
Fears Jr. Joseph
25
 Convicted of rape and robberty based upon eyewitness misidentification. He has not been compensated yet.
Stinson Robert Lee
24
 Convicted of murder upon unvalidated or improper forensic science. He has not been compensated yet.
Cole Timothy
23
 Convicted of aggravated sexual assault based upon eyewitness misidentification and unvalidated or improper forensic science. He has not been compensated yet.
Shelden Debra
20
 Convicted of aiding and abetting second degree murder based upon a false confession and unvalidated or improper forensic science. She has not yet been compensated.
Barnes Steven
20
 Convicted of rape, sodomy, and murder based upon eyewitness misidentification, informants/snitches, and unvalidated or improper forensic science. He has not yet been compensated.
Winslow Thomas
19
 Convicted of aiding and abetting and second-degree murder based upon false confessions and unvalidated or improper forensic science. He has not been compensated yet.
Taylor Ada JoAnn
19
 Convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree murder based upon false confessions and unvalidated or improper forensic science. She has not been compensated yet.
Roman Miguel
19
 Convicted of murder based upon informants/snitches. He has not been compensated yet.
Gonzalez Kathy
19
 Convicted of aiding and abetting second-degree murder based upon false confessions and unvalidated or improper forensic science. She has not been compensated yet.
Dean James
19
 Convicted of aiding and abetting and second-degree murder based upon false confessions and unvalidated or improper forensic science. He has not been compensated yet.
Abbitt Joseph
14
 Convicted of rape, burglary, and kidnapping based upon eyewitness misidentification. He has not been compensated yet.

More information on all of these cases can be found at: Innocent Project.

We bring this issue up to remind everyone currently in the criminal justice profession how much we can impact the lives of people (mostly in a positive way, but sometimes not so much).  These types of reminders help to make sure that we apply good critical thinking on our jobs every day.

We wish all of these people the best as  they adjust to life after prison and after being exonerated.

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