11 Facts About Wrongful Imprisonment

1. The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in 31 states; since 2000, there have been 204 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.
2. Here's a breakdown of the ethnicity of the 204 people exonerated: 122 African Americans, 57 Caucasians, 19 Latinos, one Asian American and five prisoners of unknown or mixed raced.
3. Mistaken eyewitness identifications contributed to over 75% of the 200 wrongful convictions in the United States overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence.
4. In 2004, Congress passed the Justice for All Act which provides financial incentives for states to preserve evidence – and withholds those same monies for states that do not adequately preserve evidence. Not all states that require the preservation of evidence succeed in fulfilling their mission. For example, some legislation limits the preservation of evidence to only certain crimes.
5. There are 28 states that do not have statues requiring that they preserve evidence which includes biological evidence from crime scenes critical to DNA exonerations.
6. The Innocence Project has found crime lab errors, both inadvertent and calculated, to be a leading contributor to wrongful convictions. Historically, however, states are required to do nothing to remedy – or even investigate – these problems despite proof of their existence.
7. Despite its ability to prove innocence, some courts will not consider newly discovered DNA evidence after trial. Currently, eight states do not have any statutes in their state laws that allow DNA evidence to be accessed.
8. Unfortunately, exonerated individuals face many difficulties even after being released from prison due to issues such as lack of money, housing, transportation, health services and/or insurance. They typically also retain a criminal record despite being proven innocent. Even now, 25 states do not have compensation statutes.
9. Oddly enough, false confessions account for 25% of wrongful convictions. Usually these confessions are a result of intimidation, violence, devious interrogation techniques or compromised reasoning ability due to exhaustion, stress, hunger, substance use, and, in some cases, mental limitation.
10. Of these wrongful convictions, 15% were caused in part by the testimony of a "snitch". These testimonies are unreliable and are often part of agreements where "snitches" are granted strong incentives such as special treatment or the dropping of charges in exchange for false testimonies.
11. On average, people who were set free from prison after having been wrongfully convicted and sentenced served more than 12 years in prison before release.

Sources
Innocence Project
Life After Exoneration