Comments on: Living A Life Sentence

What Happens After The Innocent Are Exonerated For Crimes They Didn’t Commit? For Many, It's Tougher Than A Prison Yard

[actornaught]

"...Innocence Project, the group that - using DNA evidence - so far has helped free...17 on death row..."

After getting the death penalty, people that have been wrongly convicted can't be set free.

Two independent studies concluded that at least 50 Americans were wrongly executed in the 20th century. Barbaric.

Utterly barbaric. (And expensive.)

How many is too many to justify keeping the death penalty?

[incog-nito]

What do people expect? They elect into high office people who claim to be "tough" on crime, judging solely by their conviction record. They allow the criminal justice system and the prison system to be privatized, effectively turning it into a growth industry. And then they wonder why abuses like these happen, and why we have the highest rate of incarceration in the Western world.

[ludvig1-2009]

I think these people should in addition to $35,000 a year be given credit for social security contributions as well, so they're not bereft when they reach old age. I know I've seen a recent story about a black kid who died of asthma in prison before he was proved by DNA evidence as not being guilty of rape. The only mistake he made was letting the cops have his picture so they could show it to the victim. I know I've had my picture taken by the cops for merely riding a bicycle down the street. That's what they call pro-active policing. What a bunch of bunk. It's left me with zilch respect for cops. I even had a cop stop me after that happened to ask me some questions about what I saw down the bike path and I replied, "I don't talk to pigs." and rode off. Retired nuclear engineer and 13 gallon blood donor.

[kanner09]

This story is a sad comment on the justice system in this country. It's appalling that prosecutors can behave like this and ruin innocent people's lives with impunity. And even when they are finally proven innocent, they get nothing to compensate them. There are unfortunately many other cases of abuse of citizens by their government, both local and national. I had my career destroyed by a state licensing board (Maine) which revoked my dental license for completely bogus reasons, blaming me for actions caused by one of the seven board members. There are many other cases of abuse by this state licensing board, and the "prosecutor" for the board is of the same ilk as described here in other comments. Many innocent healthcare practitioners are being ruined, as no doubt is happening in other licensed professions. These boards ostensibly exist to protect the public, but they often are really interested in their own agendas. It's no wonder that the country is going down the tubes, since the true incompetents are in charge.

[summarex]

Where I live, a local prosecutor was interviewed on TV about the wrongly convicted. He said -- on TV -- that yes, he understands that such things happen. But that is just the price we have to pay for a civilized society.

That's atrocious. But the worst thing is that nobody smashed his head to a pulp after he made that statement.

[summarex]

I've been aware of this atrocity for a long time. That's why I get angry when they spend TV time and Internet space talking about the suffering of political dissidents and human rights violations in other countries. There are thousands of people sitting in jail for things they didn't do.

Lift prosecutorial and police immunity. Get rid of juror anonymity. Make public the names and addresses of all the judges, prosecutors, enforcers and jurors involved in criminal cases and let them take their chances for their misdeeds like everybody else.

[sandy19731]

My sister was accused of child abuse, she ran a day care center (parents saw that her family had some money and thought they could sue after her conviction). She was and is innocent and it took over $25,000. to prove it. The case never went to trial because before it did we hired an expensive attorney to show that we had the evidence that she was innocent.
Without that money she would be in prison. All the prosecutor cared about was getting a conviction. He did not care about the truth at all. After we proved her innocence he just went back to trying to get other convictions, no penalty for him at all.
This was in Nebraska.
If she had come from a poor family she would be in prison for crimes she did not commit.
He should be in prison for what he put her through.
To be poor in this country makes you very vulnerable.

[luke_4u]

I've always thought and still do, that if the police lie, no matter what their reasoning, they should be jailed and prosecuted. If a prosecutor lies or withholds evidence that could help prove the innocence of the accused, they also should be jailed and prosecuted, and never allowed to practice law again. An honest legal system is all that stands between fairness to citizens, or a false conviction. When our legal system doesn't follow the law, why should anybody else ? A corrupt legal system ruins lives. It's bad enough to have to stand before 12 people fresh off the street that couldn't pour pi55 out of a boot, even if the directions were on the heel. But to be innocent and still have to be there, just because the cops lied and the prosecutor with held evidence that could have proven that you were "not guilty" ? Kind of make's you proud to be an Amerikan, huh ? The prisons are overcrowded enough as it is, without putting people in there, that don't belong there.

[Void_Master]

Where I live, a local prosecutor was interviewed on TV about the wrongly convicted. He said -- on TV -- that yes, he understands that such things happen. But that is just the price we have to pay for a civilized society.

If that is the case, then I for one am ready for a return to the Stone Age.

[Solarrays247]

I found myself shaking my head in disbelief, with tears rolling down my cheeks by the time I finished reading this article. It is criminal that there is no recourse for most of these innocent victims of our justice system! Disgusting!

And this is allowed to go on in our UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? This is allowed to continue with no repercussions on the part of the innocent defendants? Unbelievable!