There have been lots of frightening moments in this election cycle, but as a criminal defense lawyer and ethics expert, one moment was particularly scary. A presidential candidate, in a script written and performed by despots everywhere, threatens to lock up his political opponent if he prevails. Of all the feared abuses of government power: isn’t this the most frightening of all—the power to falsely accuse and wrongly imprison?
We tell ourselves, it can’t happen here. But actually—it does, on a fairly regular basis. Since 1989, 1,900 people have been exonerated of crimes that either wrongfully imprisoned them for life, or placed them at the threat of death. In the past three years alone, 421 convictions have been overturned as the technology and the advocacy in these cases has improved, along with the proliferation of organizations such as our own Pennsylvania Innocence Project, (see https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/Exonerations-in-the-United-States-Map.aspx).
