This issue strikes very close to home. My 19-year-old son was unjustly charged for an alleged crime, based solely on an unreliable accusation. While under the influence of unknown spiked substances, disoriented and incapacitated, he was subjected to a police interrogation and left without assistance, even while he was vomiting blood. His identity – an important and personal part of an individual's life – was shared with the media without restraint. Threats were directed at my family and bias encouraged in the lead up to court proceedings. This horrific event has caused immense suffering to my family, not to mention the financial burden as we fight to prove his innocence against a police force unwilling to investigate further.

Such policies and practices cannot be allowed to continue. In the United States alone, the National Registry of Exonerations reported 2,400 wrongful convictions between 1989 and 2019, amounts to upwards of 21,000 years of innocent life lost. Many of the convicted are disadvantaged, vulnerable individuals who lack the means to mount a proper defense, thus they languish in prisons, their families riddled with trauma.My son has a history of trauma already and a mental health illnesses and while on remand has not had access to his regular medication,or mental health treatment, despite constant request made.Furthermore, the publication of identifying information about individuals who have not yet been sentenced poses a substantial and unnecessary risk to their safety.

We need to mandate factual evidence before charges can be formally laid and trials conducted. This would drastically reduce the number of false convictions and prevent families going through unnecessary anguish. Innocence should not be so costly. Judicial fairness is a cornerstone of a just society. It's time to demand the end of unjust, unfounded charges and the damaging practices accompanying them. Please sign this petition now and help bring about this much-needed change.