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2014 Criminal Exonerations in US Hit Record High
The number of criminals exonerated in the United States has reached an all-time peak of 125 in 2014, increasing by one third compared to the previous year, a study released by the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE) showed.
According to the report, published on Monday, the number of exonerations in 2012 and 2013 stood at 91.
The highest numbers of exonerations were registered in the states of New York and Texas, with 39 and 17 convicts cleared of charges respectively.
Homicides accounted for 38 percent of all 2014 exonerations, with another 31 percent related to drug crimes.
The increase in the number of exonerations is largely due to 33 cases in Texas where people charged with drug-related crimes were convicted without completing drug tests. The convictions were called off after tests showed that suspects had not taken illegal substances.
Another reason behind the rise of exonerations is the work of so-called Conviction Integrity Units (CIU), subdivisions established inside prosecutor offices aimed at reinvestigating cases to identify wrongful convictions. The number of CIUs increased in 2014 from 9 to 15, triggering a surge in exonerations. CIU operations resulted in 49 exonerations out of the total 125.
NRE is a joint project of the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. The project is aimed at tracking information on exonerations and analyzing the related trends in the United States. NRE possesses detailed information on all exonerations in the country since 1989.
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