2015 Is Record Year For False Convictions

The New York Times reports today on a study that found that in 2015, 149 individuals were determined to have been falsely convicted of a crime.  Nearly four in ten exonerations were for murder. According to the study, “[t]he annual tally of false convictions has more than doubled since 2011, the registry said. All told, its researchers have recorded 1,733 exonerations since 1989.”

No system of justice is perfect.  But we can do so much better to reduce the number of false convictions.  (For example, don’t rely on eyewitness identifications without corroborating evidence.)