NCJ Number
244925
Date Published
2013
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This report profiles the 22 cases of exonerations (previously convicted persons found by a court to be innocent) that occurred in the United States in 2012.
Abstract
Among these 22 persons wrongfully convicted is Willie Grimes, who was wrongfully convicted of rape based primarily on the flawed testimony of a lab analyst, who claimed that hairs found on the victim's sheets were microscopically consistent with Grimes' hair and that it would be rare to find two individuals in the general population with the same microscopic hair characteristics. DNA evidence eventually proved the analyst wrong, as was the case in two other exonerations in 2012 based on DNA analysis. Thanks in part to an investigative series in the Washington Post the FBI announced that it would conduct a widespread review of cases that involved hair analysis. Although Innocence Network projects used a variety of tactics to prove innocence in these cases, nearly half were exonerations based on DNA analysis subsequent to convictions. In 2012, the 300th person was exonerated based on DNA evidence analyzed subsequent to the conviction. DNA evidence, when available, is often the swiftest path to exoneration; however, it is available in less than 10 percent of serious felonies. A list of Innocence Network members is provided.