Wrongful Convictions 03/30/15

Today, I want to explore wrongful convictions. How often does it happen? What causes a wrongful conviction to occur? I hope by the end of this post, I will know the answers.

"Causes of Wrongful Convictions." Causes of Wrongful Convictions. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar.
           2015.     

This link provides the most common causes of wrongful convictions. Although these are the most common, it doesn't mean that these are all of the causes. These common causes include:

• eyewitness misidentification
• junk science
• false confessions
• government misconduct
• snitches
• bad lawyering

In a many cases, these causes can result in wrongful convictions and sometimes it can even be a combination of these, not just one. This link helped answer one of my questions.

"DNA Exonerations Nationwide." - The Innocence Project. N.p., 7 Feb. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

This link discusses the number of individuals that have been wrongfully convicted and the number of people that have been exonerated by the use of DNA testing. It then goes on to talk about the causes for people being convicted for crimes they did not commit. This site answers both of my questions that I sought out to answer.

It can take years before someone that is wrongfully convicted to be exonerated and the right criminal to be put behind bars for their crime. So my question now is what will happen to the person that has been exonerated? Do they receive anything for being wrongfully convicted after they are set free?