Why a Wrongful Conviction Day? It's always the other guy, right?

I always thought that I was a darn good reporter. I was a broadcast journalist for nearly 30 years in the 50s through 70s. Turns out, I was pretty darn naïve as well! A good part of my life I covered the police beat. Cops and prosecutors were my friends, and I thought they were always right. 

Then, many years later (1990s), I met a black prisoner who claimed he was innocent. Over the next decade he and I became best friends, as we joined hands to prove that he had been wrongly convicted. That experience led to the formation of the organization we now call HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS. It was a dramatic change in belief and understanding for me, as I learned that cops and prosecutors were not always right, and that many people are behind bars who do not belong there. They weren’t just poor Black people, either. They included teachers, businessmen, doctors, lawyers and yes, even cops. 

Yes, it CAN happen to you! Just ask a banker who served 8 years after his wife died from injuries in a fall down the stairs. A determined policeman insisted that he must have pushed her!

It is estimated that between 4 and 6% of people in our prisons are actually innocent. Think about it! If 5% of individuals are actually innocent, that means 1 in 20 criminal cases result in a wrongful conviction! 

Says attorney/author John Grisham: “Wrongful convictions happen every week in every state in this country. And they Happen for all the same reasons. Sloppy police work. Eyewitness identification is the worst type almost. Because it's wrong about half the time. Think about that.” 

In observance of International Wrongful Conviction Day, the HFP team asks you to not only take a moment to remember and pray for those behind bars who don’t belong there, but to also think about steps that can be taken to improve the situation. These could include

-expanding access to post-conviction DNA tests

- barring testimony from jailhouse informants

-creating accountability for dishonest prosecutors (who in almost all cases see no consequences for stealing the lives of their Black and Brown constituents), and

-investing in and expanding public defense. 

As Dr. Martin Luther King says: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!



Comments

Louise Reichert said…
And may you rest easy knowing there are MANY who are extraordinarily grateful for HFP's services!
September 29, 2022 at 9:07 PM
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