Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Supporters of the wrongly convicted and those committed to criminal justice reform will march on state capitols in 12 states on Saturday

The state involved are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas.

About Freedom March 2009: an opportunity to raise united voices for justice. Modern science and technology have shaken the once strong faith many once placed in the accuracy of judgments made by our criminal justice system. Thanks to DNA analysis of biological evidence, hundreds have been exonerated—many after spending years on death row. Research by Seton Hall law professor D. Michael Risinger indicates that 3.3%-5% of those convicted of crimes are factually innocent. Those who value justice demand that the justice system apply the lessons to be learned from the many cases of wrongful conviction, and support policy initiatives that:

1. Raise the accuracy rate in judgments of guilt and innocence.

2. Resolve credible post-conviction claims of innocence.

3. Remedy the tragic impact of wrongful convictions.

For those who are guilty of crimes, we support enlightened approaches to incarceration that nurture genuine rehabilitation and reintegration of productive citizens whenever possible.

FACTS ABOUT OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:

• The United States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, including the far more populous nation of China[1].
• One in 100 Adult Americans is incarcerated in a prison or jail.
• One in 31 Adult Americans is incarcerated, on probation or parole.
•  Incarceration rates heavily concentrated among men, racial and ethnic minorities, and 20-and 30-year olds
• 1 in 9 Black men 20-34 years old , 1 in 15 Black men 18+, 1 in 36 Hispanic men 18+.
• Texas leads the nation in verified wrongful convictions. To date, 38 people have been exonerated in Texas using DNA.
•  Nationally, 133 people have been exonerated from death row[2].
• Expert estimates of wrongful convictions range from 3% to 12%, based on data from DNA & other exonerations [3].
•  Executed But Possibly Innocent: Of the 8 cases frequently cited as those executed despite strong evidence of innocence, 5 are Texas cases[4].
•  How many innocent people are in prison? No one knows, but experts agree that "any plausible guess at the total number of miscarriages of justice in America in the last fifteen years must be in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands."[5]

For more details, visit www.freedommarchusa.org

SOURCES:

[1] Pew Research Center - http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/8015PCTS_Prison08_FINAL_2-1-1_FORWEB.pdf

[1] http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty

[1] Research by Seton Hall law professor D. Michael Risinger and other expert estimates

[1] http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executed-possibly-innocent

[1] http://truthinjustice.org/exonerations-in-us.pdf