Imagine losing decades of your life for a crime you didn’t commit, then being released with nothing. No support. No home. No apology. Many of the 3,478 exonerated individuals in the U.S. since 1989 have experienced this reality (National Registry of Exonerations, 2024). Most are sent back into the world with no compensation, no housing, no medical care, and no help rebuilding their lives.

 

Freedom alone is not justice. We are demanding that Congress establish a national framework to address this crisis, whether through a federal compensation program or by tying existing justice grants to basic state standards. This approach ensures flexibility for states while delivering consistency and fairness for exonerees nationwide.

 

This campaign is not about partisanship. It is about doing what is right when the government gets it wrong.

 

We must stop treating exoneration as the end of the story. This marks the start of a new challenge, one that the government bears a moral obligation to rectify. 

 

I have been committed to justice since childhood. At just ten years old, I was writing to Leonard Peltier, a man whose wrongful conviction shaped my understanding of what justice should be. In 2024, Leonard was granted clemency after nearly 50 years behind bars. His freedom was hard-won, but his life, like so many others, was permanently altered by a system that failed him.

 

Leonard’s case may be controversial, but others are tragically clear. Take Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row for a crime he did not commit. Convicted based on faulty ballistics evidence and denied competent legal counsel, he endured solitary confinement and psychological torment until his release in 2015 (Mandery et al., 2013; Innocence Project, n.d.). Alabama offered him no compensation, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor.

 

Then there’s Julie Baumer, a woman wrongly accused of shaken baby syndrome. She spent four years in prison before medical experts proved the child suffered from a rare condition (Kieckhaefer & Luna, 2024). Despite being cleared, she lost her job, her reputation, and her adopted nephew, and, like most exonerees, she received nothing from the state. 

 

Wrongful convictions are rarely accidents. They often stem from official misconduct (60%), perjury (64%), flawed forensics (29%), and mistaken identifications (27%) (Fitzsimons & Swarns, 2024). Upon release, exonerees must start anew, lacking housing, savings, healthcare, and job opportunities (Kukucka et al., 2020). Unlike parolees, they typically receive no transitional support (Olson et al., 2023).

 

Only 38 states offer any compensation at all, and fewer still provide it without legal battles. Even in the best-case scenarios, the process can take years (Innocence Project, n.d.). States often cite budget concerns, potential fraud, or the fear of appearing liable (Mandery et al., 2013; Olson et al., 2023). But studies show these fears are largely unfounded: jurisdictions with compensation laws rarely experience abuse (Kieckhaefer & Luna, 2024).

 

Even Texas, a state known for its conservative policies, has implemented one of the most robust compensation systems in the nation. Exonerees in Texas receive $80,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, plus a lifetime annuity, access to state employee healthcare, tuition waivers, and job training opportunities (Innocence Project, 2023). Texas proves that supporting the wrongfully convicted is not a partisan issue; it is a moral one. If one of the largest states in the country can recognize its responsibility and act accordingly, then surely the federal government can follow suit to ensure consistent, humane treatment for all exonerees, regardless of where they live.

 

That is why we are calling on Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice to enact a federal solution, either through direct compensation or incentivized state compliance, that guarantees support for all exonerees, regardless of where they were convicted.

 

We propose:

• Financial awards based on time served, modeled after Texas’s approach.
• Guaranteed access to healthcare, housing stipends, and job training (Kukucka, Horodyski, & Dardis, 2022).
• Expedited expungement of wrongful convictions (Bettens et al., 2024).
• Public awareness initiatives to reduce stigma and discrimination (Kukucka, Reyes-Fuentes, & Dardis, 2024).

 

There is legal and policy precedent for creating a national standard for compensating wrongfully convicted individuals. In the 1987 decision of South Dakota v. Dole, the Supreme Court upheld Congress' right to promote state action by connecting it with federal funds. This initiative could follow the structure of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, streamlined, consistent, and fair (Simms, 2016). Like the Violence Against Women Act, which was reauthorized in 2022 to address long-ignored harm to Indigenous communities. Regardless of location, a similar approach could ensure equity and reduce the current disparity in exoneree pay (Dunn, 2023).

 

Justice is incomplete until the harm is acknowledged and repaired. Compensation, medical care, and support are ethical imperatives, but no amount of money can restore the lost. By passing federal compensation standards, we do not just help exonerees survive; we affirm our commitment to a justice system that values accountability, healing, and human dignity.

 

Sign this petition and demand that Congress do what is right. The wrongfully convicted deserve more than freedom. They deserve justice.

 

Take one more step: Use the Take Action Guide to email Congress, share the petition, and post the QR code and hashtags on social media.

 

Image of Anthony Ray Hinton used under Creative Commons license. Photo credit: ActuaLitté/Wikimedia Commons

 

Image description: Anthony Ray Hinton, a Black man in a checkered shirt, smiling as he holds up his book The Sun Does Shine during a speaking engagement. The book title is clearly visible in bold red and yellow letters.

Mr. Hinton spent nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row for a crime he did not commit. His case is one of the most powerful examples of wrongful conviction, and it shows just how broken the system can be, especially for poor defendants of color.

 

In April 2025, Anthony Ray Hinton returned marked the 10th anniversary of his exoneration. Convicted based on faulty ballistics evidence and denied competent legal counsel, he spent three decades in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit.

 

Now a community educator with the Equal Justice Initiative, Mr. Hinton uses his freedom to fight the death penalty and shine a light on the injustice of wrongful convictions. His story is powerful, but it also underscores a truth: freedom alone is not justice.

Please take a moment today to share the petition. Every signature moves us closer to reform.

 

References

Bettens, K., Pezdek, K., Blandón-Gitlin, I., & Lively, R. (2024). The lingering impact of wrongful convictions: exoneree reintegration and stigma. Journal of Forensic Psychology, 39(1), 45–63.

Dunn, K. M. (2023). Federal pathways to exoneree compensation: Policy tools and constitutional limits. Justice Policy Review, 45(2), 163–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403423111345

Fitzsimons, T., & Swarns, R. (2024). Root causes of wrongful convictions: A national analysis of post-exoneration data. National Registry of Exonerations. https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/about.aspx

Gutman, D., & Sun, E. (2019). Institutional accountability after exoneration: Civil remedies and policy reform. Justice Quarterly, 36(2), 210–235.

Innocence Project. (n.d.). Compensating the wrongfully convicted. https://innocenceproject.org/compensation

Innocence Project. (2023). Wrongful conviction statistics and compensation by state. https://innocenceproject.org/wrongful-conviction-statistics/

Kieckhaefer, J. M., & Luna, E. (2024). Barriers to justice: Why states resist compensating the innocent. American Criminal Law Review, 61(2), 285–315.

Kukucka, J., Horodyski, L. C., & Dardis, C. M. (2022). Rebuilding after exoneration: Health, stigma, and psychological toll of wrongful convictions. Law and Human Behavior, 46(3), 243–258.

Kukucka, J., Reyes-Fuentes, A., & Dardis, C. M. (2024). Access denied: Mental health barriers for exonerees seeking psychological services. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 30(1), 19–38.

Mandery, E. J., Shlosberg, A., West, V., & Callaghan, B. (2013). Compensation statutes and post-exoneration support in the United States: An empirical analysis. Albany Law Review, 75(3), 1323–1371.

National Registry of Exonerations. (2024). Exoneration data summary. https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration

Olson, A. B., Reed, T. R., & Delgado, A. (2023). Redressing wrongful convictions: Gaps in state support and post-release aid. The Criminal Law Bulletin, 59(1), 15–41.

Simms, A. (2016). Toward federal justice: Lessons from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Yale Law & Policy Review, 34(1), 99–122.

South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203 (1987).

 

 

About the Petition Creator:

My name is Kristen Sherman, and for over three decades, I have held onto a dream: to become an advocate for those failed by our legal system. While life placed that dream on hold, I never let it go.

 

Today, I’m completing my degree after 32 years and dedicating my academic work to making an impact in the lives of those who are still waiting to be heard.

 

This petition is part of my lifelong calling. It calls on Congress and the Department of Justice to establish federal compensation standards for the wrongfully convicted. With your support, we can move closer to a justice system that repairs harm, not just releases people and walks away.