“Our procedure has been always haunted by the ghost of the innocent man convicted. It is an unreal dream.”

Judge Learned Hand, United States v. Garsson, 291 F. 646, 649 (S.D.N.Y. 1923)

Nearly a century after Judge Hand dismissed it as an impossibility, we know that wrongful convictions are not “ghost[s]” at all. Movies, podcasts, and books all show that our criminal justice system can lead to the unjust incarceration of an innocent person. 

It’s easy to dismiss these cases — the President of the United States certainly does — but they are not isolated incidents. The National Registry of Exonerations has documented more than 2,100 wrongful convictions. Each case hides a massive human toll: Even when uncovered, wrongful convictions take years or decades to correct. 

How do these injustices happen in the first place? And how do they go uncorrected?