NCJ Number
166072
Date Published
1995
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Wrongful conviction is a central issue in the discussions of capital punishment; since 1973, significant evidence of their innocence has resulted in the release of at least 48 people who had served time on death row.
Abstract
The defendant was acquitted or pardoned or the charges were dropped in 43 of these cases. In three cases the defendants were released immediately on pleading to a lesser offense. Some of the people were convicted because the court heard perjured testimony or because the prosecutor improperly withheld exculpatory evidence. Racial prejudice was a determining factor in other cases. In others, defense attorneys failed to conduct the necessary investigation that would have revealed exculpatory information. The case of Clarence Brandley exemplifies racial prejudice; that of Walter McMillan, the pressure to prosecute; that of Federico Macias, inadequate counsel; those of Clarence Chance and Benny Powell, police misconduct; and that of Randall Dale Adams, the role of the media in revealing prosecutorial misconduct.