LEARN about innocence
Since 1973, 138 people in 26 states have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. On average, the exonerated prisoner spent 9.8 years behind bars.
If the imposition of the death penalty is a disgrace to a nation founded on principles of justice, human rights and civil liberties, it is even more appalling when death sentences are handed out to those who are innocent. The American criminal justice system is failing to fulfill its highest duty: to protect innocent people from wrongful convictions and death sentences.
- For every nine prisoners executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, one innocent person was condemned to die and later exonerated. How many equally blameless but less fortunate prisoners still await execution or have already gone to their deaths?
The American criminal justice system provides no reliable safeguards against this danger. Errors have been made repeatedly in death penalty cases because of:
- poor legal representation
- racial prejudice
- prosecutorial misconduct
- the presentation of erroneous evidence
- false confession
- junk science
- eyewitness error
Once convicted, a death row prisoner faces enormous obstacles in convincing any court that he or she is innocent.
Death penalty supporters contend that the release of so many innocent people from death row is evidence that “the system works,” that it prevents irreversible mistakes from being made. Nothing could be further from the truth. When death row prisoners are exonerated, it is almost always due to extrajudicial factors such as the tireless work of dedicated attorneys or investigations by journalists, not the appeals process. Innocent people are freed from death row not because of the system, but in spite of it.
As long as the death penalty remains a part of the American “justice” system, innocent people will continue to be sentenced to death. Some will be executed. It is inevitable. Ultimately, the abolition of the death penalty is the only guaranteed protection against such tragic mistakes.
For more information about innocence, refer to the links below that we've assembled from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Innocence Links
List of Exonerations Since 1973
Click here for the total list of death row exonerations since 1973.
List of Exonerations Since 1973
Causes of Wrongful Convictions
A common misconception is that all exonerations come about because of DNA evidence or scientific breakthroughs. Here, the Death Penalty Information Center breaks down the causes of wrongful convictions in each of the cases of exoneration from death row - from eyewitness errors to false confessions.
Causes of Wrongful Convictions
Innocence Cases 1973-1983
A list of all death row exonerations between 1973 and 1983 and descriptions of the cases.
Innocence Cases 1973-1983
Innocence Cases 1984-1993
A list of death row exonerations between 1984-1993 and descriptions of the cases.
Innocence Cases 1984-1993
Innocence Cases 1994-2003
Descriptions of death row exonerations between 1994 and 2003.
Innocence Cases 1994-2003
Innocence Cases 2004-Present
List of death row exonerations and descriptions of cases from 2004 to the present day.
Innocence Cases 2004-Present
Exonerations by State
Death row exonerations broken down by state.
Exonerations by State
Exonerations by Year
Exonerations broken down by year.
Exonerations by Year
Exonerations by Race
Death row exonerations broken down by race.
Exonerations by Race
Cases of Probable Innocence
The Death Penalty Information Center has compiled this list of former prisoners who were released from death row based on strong evidence of their innocence. These cases do not appear on the Information Center's official "innocence list."
Cases of Probable Innocence
Executed Despite Doubts of Guilt
This list details the cases of death row prisoners who were executed despite strong claims of innocence. The most famous of these cases is of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas.
Executed Despite Doubts of Guilt
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