Some people spend decades in jail for crimes they didn't commit. Thankfully, advances in DNA technology have aided efforts to prove the innocence of the wrongfully convicted. But upon release, many of these inmates have few financial resources and little or no job prospects. Some states provide automatic compensation to exonerated prisoners, but others provide nothing. It's one thing not to compensate someone who was wrongfully convicted once but who has habitually committed crimes. It's quite another not to compensate those who are completely innocent. Today we'll talk to one man who spent 24 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. You can read his story here. And in the meantime, tell us your thoughts: what do we owe the wrongfully convicted? Should they be financially compensated?
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Situations like this one are why I've changed my mind on the death penalty. I used to support it, now I no longer do. I shudder to think how many innocent people we've executed.
After 20 years in the military, I got out with affordable health care, enough money from the VA for college and $1000 a month. I think that would be a good start for the wrongfully convicted. Let's make sure that we aren't wrongfully prioritizing and giving people that have suffered from societies mistakes more compensation than the people that are serving for our collective freedoms and securities.
Given that the wrongfully trial and convicted have been denied economic and human rights, the convicting venues and governments [local and state] should be MANDATED to compensate such victims via monetary awards, correction or elimination of bad rap sheets and a formal apologies written and posted on the web from Governors, Wardens, Local Jurists and Law Enforcement officials. Public PDs and DAs who have been parties to the wrongful incarceration should be made to pay personal compensation to the victims as well.
Just last week in Colorado, Tim Masters was released from prison after nearly ten years. He was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned after prosecutors withheld vital evidence which would have cleared him of the rape charge. Colorado has no structure for compensation. This is a travesty.
Society needs to remain responsible, compensation is necessary. Or send the DA to jail to ensure more responsibility when cases are prosecuted.
I feel that the state owes wrongfully convicted/imprisoned individuals an education, a job, and housing, at the very least. The state also must do whatever is necessary to clear these people's names and reputations, making sure that nothing about their wrongful conviction or incarceration comes up on computer background checks.
We should pay them, if they are truly innocent and not just "innocent this time" whatever the median income is for their area, times the number of years they were imprisoned adjusted to reflect interest at the AFR and inflation.
yes, the wrongfully convicted should be compensated. It is an issue of justice and accountability. Repeatedly, I have gotten the impression that various DA's feel it is their duty to secure the conviction with the stiffest possible sentence of each defendant that is accused of a crime. The defense lawyer has the duty to do what is in the best interest of his/her client whether or not he/she believes that the client is innocent. The DA should be committed to justice and what is best for society. And yet there are so many incidents of police and the prosecution including false or misleading evidence -anything to prove someone guilty! Why? Why are they so committed to putting people behind bars? Maybe if the wrongfully accused were compensated, then the prosecution would be more judicious.
We must provide automatic compensation to exonerated prisoners. The US courts have awarded compensation to those who have suffered loss to be paid for by those who caused that loss. Prisoners should not be an exception. I believe that compensation should be similar to the retirement benefits that a district attorney receives. The wrongfully convicted should receive the same retirement credit for each year served that a district attorney receives for a year worked. We can certainly afford this cost if the number of people wrongfully is as small as it should be.
In Colorado we are in the midst of an investigation of the Master's conviction. At least one of the prosecutors that appears to have withheld evidence is now a judge. What should happen there?
Why is Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff writing her own bill? The Senate version already exists, excludes habitual violent offenders, and compensates at a reasonable rate. It compensates at the same amount Wilton Dedge was paid. It is a bill that has strong bipartisan support. As an attorney in Tallahassee, I think Rep. Bogdanoff is being disingenuous when she discusses her support for Mr. Crotzer. My sense last year was that the Florida House agreed to compensate Mr. Crotzer despite Rep. Bogdanoff's opposition to the bill, and that she only voted for it because she knew the thing wasn't going to be heard in the Senate. Also, I am well aware of the Wilton Dedge case, and I could be wrong, but I have no recollection of her playing any role in that case as she just claimed on live national radio.
I don't agree with this clean hands agreement. B/c if you are wrongfully incarcerated it doesn't matter what you did in the past, it is still wrong. I also think if you have a past record of felonies you would more likely be targeted by the police and prosecutors. So the cleans hands agreement would hand cuff the prisoner, so to speak.
For those who would like to learn more about the latest developments in the area of wrongful convictions and exonerations, this Friday, February 8th, the leading legal scholars and attorneys in this field, including Peter Neufeld, Barry Fisher, Gerry Uelmen, Paul Giannelli, Andrew Taslitz, and others, will gather at the Wrongful Convictions Symposium at Southwestern School of Law. Here is the link to their web site: http://www.swlaw.edu/academics/cocurricular/lawreview/wrongfulconvictions
I serve 3yrs in florida state prison for robbery charge. I didnot commit.And at that time people wasn't doing anything to help people on cases like this. So how come now it's becoming a big issue.This is something that they should have already been paying attention too.I have a charge on my recorded that shouldn't even be there. All because i had other charges on record and i fitted police profile
I couldn't agree any better with Steven Ling.Its really sad when a person who is innocent is imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit and wayworse if they are put on death row.
How many innocent guys out there have been subjected to the electric chair,gas chamber or by means of lethal injection?????
And I'm certain there are people who are trying to prove their innocence from behind bars but are getting absolutely no way with their pleas.
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