Ensure Innocent Individuals Are Not Sent to Prison
Background Key Findings Solutions
Texas leads the nation in wrongful convictions. Statewide, there have been recent waves of individuals being exonerated for crimes they were incarcerated for (sometimes for more than a decade) but did not commit. Wrongful convictions destroy public trust and confidence in the justice system – guilty culprits are free, threatening communities and preventing justice for victims.
Major factors contribute to the problem of innocent people being sent to prison: juries hear evidence that has been collected through questionable practices, like unrecorded interrogations or improper eyewitness identification methods; likewise, they are presented with uncorroborated informant testimony and forensic lab results with high error rates. Such evidence leads to unfair and unjust assumptions of wrongdoing and, in turn, guilty convictions.
The State of Texas owes it both to the victims of crime, as well as to individuals convicted of those crimes, to do everything within its means to ensure that innocent individuals are not sent to prison.