THE REGISTRY IN THE NEWS - SELECTED STORIES
2021
Des Moines Register (Iowa): "Prosecutors: Pair in prison but innocent of murders; Missouri laws hinderefforts to overturn their convictions" (8/18/21)
The Post and Courier: "New ethics rule requires prosecutors to turn over evidence in wrongful convictions" (8/18/21)
The Washington Post: "Ex-Philadelphia homicide detectives arrested, accused of lying in wrongful conviction" (8/14/21)
CNN: "More than 2,800 have been wrongly convicted in the US. Lawmakers and advocates want to make sure they're paid their dues." (6/7/21)
The New York Times Magazine: "I Write About the Law. But Could I Really Help Free a Prisoner?" (6/30/21)
The Crime Report: "Why Did It Take 47 Years to Prove Anthony Mazza was Innocent?" (6/30/21)
Smithsonian Magazine: "A Sensational Murder Case That Ended in a Wrongful Conviction" (6/23/21)
The Crime Report: "Exonerated Defendants Lost 25,000 Years to Wrongful Imprisonment" (6/15/2021)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: "As Philly tops two dozen exonerations, city may face tens of millions in civil liability" (6/13/2021)
CSI Houston: "How a Texas lab has remade the science of forensics" (4/23/2021)
Charleston Gazette-Mail: "Joshua Higginbotham: Science must have its day in court (Opinion)" (4/6/2021)
The Progressive: "Making a List - of Cops Who Can't Be Trusted" (4/6/2021)
WTTW: "Illinois Led Nation in Criminal Exonerations For Third Straight Year: Report" (3/30/2021)
The Appeal: "Children Can be on Their Own when Grilled by Police. The Push for Protection is Growing." (3/25/2021)
Spectrum News 1: "They Knew He Didn't Do It": Benjamine Spencer's Mother Speaks Out" (3/25/2021)
The Kansas City Star: "Family of late Kansas exoneree says jailhouse informant bill could have saved his life" (3/17/2021)
Jackson Newspapers: "West Virginia House Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Legislation to address wrongful convictions" (3/16/2021)
Erie News Now: "This Wayne County, Michigan, program is helping exonerate people for crimes they didn't commit. Now it's going statewide" (3/1/2021)
The Oregonian: "Opinion: Oregon should pay those who are wrongfully convicted" (2/17/2021)
The New York Times: "3 Detectives Obtained a False Murder Confession. Was It One of Dozens?" (2/15/2021)
The Washington Post: "Opinion: Virginia must prevent wrongful executions" (2/2/2021)
WRCBtv: "This prisoner says he's been waiting 43 years for a fair trial in a racist Louisiana parish. A hearing may be his final chance" (1/5/2021)
2020
The New York Times: "Convicted Using False Testimony, Michigan Man is Free After 38 Years" (12/17/2020)
LA Times: "Opinion: Amid COVID closures, executions in 2020 dropped to lowest level in 30 years" (12/16/2020)
The Virginian Pilot: "A Lie Sent Her to Prison" (10/30/2020)
The Atlantic: "The Other Police Violence" (September 2020)
The New York Times: "The Roots of Wrongful Convictions" (9/16/2020)
The Washington Post: "Half of Wrongful Convictions Due to Misconduct" (9/16/2020)
The Associated Press: "Report: Alarming Rates of Official Misconduct" (9/15/2020)
WGBH: "Boston's Shameful History" (6/9/2020)
Reason: "Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions" (5/29/2020)
The Appeal: "I'm Pretty Sure I Should Be Going Home" (5/25/2020)
CBS News: "Missouri Prosecutors' Unit that Tried Inmate Scheduled to Die is Linked to Wrongful Convictions, Innocence Project Says" (5/19/2020)
Law360: "Mo. Exoneration Bid Tests Limits of Prosecutorial Power" (5/18/2020)
WHYY Radio: "He was Exonerated After Serving 40 Years in Prison. What does the State of Delaware Owe Him?" (5/13/2020)
The American Conservative: "We Could All be General Michael Flynn Tomorrow" (5/11/2020)
Colorado Sentinel: "Aurora Region Attorney Expand Eligibility Criteria for Review Applications Open to the Wrongfully Convicted" (4/29/2020)
Milwaukee Independent: "With Coronavirus in Our Prisons and Jails, Do All Lives Still Matter?" (4/28/2020)
The New Republic: "He Was Wrongly Imprisoned for 25 Years. It Wasn't DNA Evidence That Got Him Out" (4/22/2020)
The New York Times: "A police officer's Word Convicted Them. Now He's Charged with Murder." (2/26/2020)
The New Yorker: "A Murder Trial In Reverse" (2/24/2020)
NBC News: "Groveland Four, the black men pardoned after 1949 rape accusation, honored with memorial" (2/21/2020)
LiveScience: "Why do people confess to crimes they didn't commit?" (2/15/2020)
ABC News: “Man's case becomes 268th tossed conviction in state's history” (2/12/2020)
The Washington Post: "A rape kit that sat untested for decades just exonerated a wrongfully convicted man" (1/29/2020)
2019
New York Review of Books: “Jailed by Bad Science” (12/19/2019)
The Intercept: "21,000 Years Lost and Counting: Prosecutors are Working to Clear Wrongful Convictions, but Their Record is Mixed"
(4/24/19)
The New York Times: "A Leading Cause for Wrongful Convictions: Experts Overstating Forensic Results"
(4/20/19)
Reason: "U.S. Prisoners Have Lost a Combined 20,000 Years of Life to False Convictions"
(4/10/19)
WTTW - Chicago Public Media: "Illinois Leads Nation in Exonerations After Police Corruption Scandal"
(4/9/19)
Chicago Sun-Times: "Nearly 50 people in Illinois were exonerated of crimes in 2018, top in US"
(4/9/19)
2018
The Washington Post: "Report: Wrongful convictions have stolen at least 20,000 years from innocent defendants"
(9/10/18)
The Hill: "Good news, bad news for innocent people in prison"
(3/18/18)
NBC News: "More exonerations are driven by police and prosecutor misconduct"
(3/14/18)
The New York Times: "False Confessions, Mistaken Witnesses, Corrupt Investigators: Why 139 Innocent People Went to Jail"
(3/14/18)
The Texas Tribune: "Fewer exonerations in Texas' Harris County drove national rate lower too, study finds"
(3/14/18)
NPR: "Fewer Innocent Inmates Were Released From Prison In 2017, Study Says"
(3/14/18)
2017
BuzzFeed: "Why William Varnado Lied"
(3/21/17)
NBC News: "How One Texas County Drove a Record Rise in Exonerations"
(3/8/17)
The New York Times: "Black People More Likely to Be Wrongfully Convicted of Murder, Study Shows"
(3/7/17)
Los Angeles Times: "When Wrongful Convictions Affect Blacks More Than Whites, Can We Call it a Justice System?"
(3/7/17)
NPR and WBUR's Here & Now: "Reports Find Record Number of Exonerations, and Race Plays a Major Role"
(3/7/17)
Vox: "Study: Black People are 7 Times More Likely Than White People to be Wrongly Convicted of Murder"
(3/7/17)
2016
Wall Street Journal: "For Victims’ Families, the Torment of Exoneration"
(11/7/16)
McClatchy DC: "Why 2015 was a record year for the wrongfully convicted" and "Prosecutors look to free the innocent – but won't release findings"
(8/18/16)
Take Part: "The Proven Way to Keep More Innocent Teens From Confessing to Murder (and Why Police Won't Adopt It)" (6/17/16)
The Marshall Project: "For 50 Years, You've Had "The Right to Remain Silent"(6/12/16)
New York Times: "Prisoners Exonerated, Prosecutors Exposed" (2/12/16)
USA Today: "Alberto Gonzales: Justice system wrongs too many"
(2/10/16)
Washington Post: "The Uptick in Exonerations Highlights Problems in Our Criminal-Justice System"
(2/5/16)
The New York Times: "Record Number of False Convictions Overturned in 2015"
(2/3/16)
Guardian: "Nearly Three People a Week in US Exonerated of Crimes Last Year"
(2/3/16)
Associated Press: "Report Finds Record Number of US Exonerations in 2015" (2/3/16)
2015
Take Part: "The Curious Cases of Pleading Guilty While Innocent"
(11/20/15)
The Washington Post: "The Staggering Number of Wrongful Convictions In America"
(7/24/15)
Associated Press (Houston Chronicle): “Record number of exonerations driven by Texas drug cases”(1/27/15)
US News & World Report: “2014 a Record Year for Exonerations, Report Finds” (1/27/15)
Huffington Post: “Exonerations Of The Wrongfully Convicted Hit Record High In The U.S. In 2014”(1/27/15)
USA Today: “Exonerations hit record high in 2014” (1/27/15)
Time: “The U.S. Is Exonerating More People Than Ever” (1/27/15)
The Washington Post: “Record number of exonerations in the U.S., report says” (1/29/15)
Houston Chronicle: "DA, county officials meet on drug policy" (2/11/15)
2014
The New York Times: “Study puts Exonerations at Record Level in U.S.” (2/4/14)
Associated Press: “Prosecutors Help Set Record Number of Exonerations” (2/4/14)
Reuters: “U.S. criminals exonerated in 2013 climbs to record high: study” (2/4/14)
National Public Radio’s Here and Now: “Study Shows Record Number of Criminal Exonerations” (2/4/14)
Time:“Record Number of U.S. Prisoners Exonerated in 2013” (2/4/14)
Huffington Post: “A Record Number Of Inmates Were Exonerated Last Year For Crimes They Didn't Commit” (2/4/14)
The Atlantic: “Why Some States Still Fight the Exoneration of the Innocent” (2/6/14)
2013
Huffington Post: “National Registry Of Exonerations Sees Prosecutors And Police Give More Help To Wrongly Convicted” (4/5/13)
National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation: “Life After Exoneration, For The Victims On Both Sides”(4/15/13)
NBC News: “Law enforcement leads the way in overturning bad convictions, group says” (4/3/13)
2012
Associated Press: “Study: 2,000 convicted then exonerated in 23 years” (5/20/12)
Los Angeles Times: “Registry tallies over 2,000 wrongful convictions since 1989” (5/20/12)
Huffington Post: “National Registry Of Exonerations: More Than 2,000 People Freed After Wrongful Convictions” (5/21/12)
USA Today: “New database tracks exonerations in USA” (5/21/12)
CNN:“More than 2,000 wrongfully convicted people exonerated in 23 years, researchers say” (5/21/12)
National Public Radio’s All Things Considered: "Exoneration List Shows Patterns In False Convictions”(5/22/12)