Work
In the history of the United States there have been 292 post-conviction exonerations due to DNA testing According to the Innocence Project these statistics were found on those exonerated:
- The average sentence served thirteen years
- 70 percent exonerated are a part of minority groups
- 40 percent of these DNA cases were able to find the actual person who committed the crime.
- About 50 percent of those exonerated through DNA testing have been financially compensated for their time in prison. The federal government, 27 states, and Washington D.C. have passed laws providing some level of financial compensation to wrongfully convicted people
- The Innocence Project has had to close 22 percent of its cases because DNA evidence was missing or had been destroyed
There have been exoneration in Washington D.C and 35 states. There are innocence projects in the majority of the 50 states.
New York City is where the Innocence Project originated, but it accepts cases from any part of the United States. The majority of clients that are helped are those who are of low socio-economic status and have used all possible legal options for justice. Before investigating a case, clients undergo a screening process in order to figure out whether or not DNA testing will lead to a wrongful conviction. Many clients are hoping that DNA evidence will prove their innocence in their cases. With the emergence of DNA testing, those who have been wrongly convicted of a crime have been able to challenge their cases. The Innocence Project also works with the local, state and federal levels of law enforcement and legislators along with other programs to prevent further wrongful convictions.
About 3,000 prisoners write to the Innocence Project annually, and at any given time the Innocence Project is evaluating 6,000 to 8,000 potential cases.
Read more about this topic: Innocence Project
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“To lift, to fetch, to drive, to shed, to pen,
Are acts I recognize, with all they mean
Of shepherding the unruly, for a kind of
Controlled woolgathering is my work too.”
—Cecil Day Lewis (1904–1972)
“To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind of food that it is very good but that most people can’t eat it.”
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)
“And men left down their work and came,
And women with petticoats coloured like flame.
And little bare feet that were blue with cold,
Went dancing back to the age of gold,
And all the world went gay, went gay,
For half an hour in the street to-day.”
—“Seumas” “O’Sullivan” (1879–1958)