The Associated Press recently reported that archives compiled by two law schools shows that more than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the past 23 years. Usually this is done with the help of a dedicated family member or advocacy group.
That’s almost 87 people per year if you average it over the entire time. I must wonder how many others may be in jail without the benefit of an advocate looking into their case.
I used to jokingly comment to my colleagues in the psychiatric hospital where I worked that being wrongly committed to a psych hospital would be awful. Because the more you protested that you were sane, the less sane you would appear.
But I can’t imagine many fates worse than being wrongly sent to prison. This is one of the challenges in our criminal justice system. Yet, there are brave people all over the country trying to right this wrong. I applaud their efforts.
In a country that fights for the freedoms we enjoy, we should fight equally hard to give it back to those who have lost it inappropriately.