Exonerations in the United States 1989 through 2003

It is noted that the 1989 exoneration of Illinois prison inmate Gary Dotson, who had been in & out of prison for ten years on a rape conviction, & who was the first person cleared of a crime on the basis of DNA identification technology tests, was the beginning of a revolution in the American criminal justice system. The current report is a study of exonerations in the US from 1989 through 2003. Discussed here are all exonerations that were located in that fifteen-year period, & that resulted from investigations into the particular cases of the exonerated individuals. It is hoped that this examination of the overall patterns in the exonerations teaches us something about the causes of false convictions, & about the operation of our criminal justice system in general. It is suggested that, although this study is the most exhaustive of its kind, it is doubtless that thousands of other defendants have been falsely convicted of crimes but have not been exonerated. 6 Tables, 1 Figure. T. K. Brown