Facts About Wrongful Convictions in California
Are you unsure about why you should have a strong attorney handling your criminal case? Just take a look at the numbers for wrongful convictions in the state of California. The California Wrongful Convictions Project at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law provides some very alarming data about wrongful convictions in the state from recent decades. The project looked at the number of people in California who exonerated or whose convictions were dismissed or overturned since Jan. 1, 1989, which is when DNA was used for exoneration for the first time.
The project identified a total of 214 individuals who met these requirements. Of those individuals, 213 spent a collective 1,311 years in prison—either state or federal—before their convictions were actually dismissed or reversed. Not only did these wrongful convictions lead to innocent people spending time behind bars, but they also cost taxpayers more than $129 million for incarceration, compensation and settlement—a conservative estimate of the costs, according to the project’s preliminary findings. This figure does not include representation costs or the costs of incarcerating individuals in county jail, which is often done in addition to state prison.
About 40% of the individuals who were identified through the project were initially sentenced to at least 20 years in prison. Some of these individuals were sentenced to life in prison, life without parole and even the death penalty. Here is the crime breakdown for the wrongful convictions identified through the project (excluding those stemming from the Rampart police scandal): 42% were for murder or manslaughter, 17% were for child sex abuse, 9% were for robbery, 7% were for fraud, 5% were for drug possession or drug sale, and 20% were for other offenses.
The project is a joint effort by UC Berkeley’s School of Law, The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the university, and criminal justice research firm Holloway Advisory Services. The project’s preliminary results are based on data that was collected during the period of June through September 2012. Researchers for the project are expecting the number of exonerated individuals in the database to substantially rise after further outreach and investigation in2013.
Main Causes for Wrongly Accusing Individuals
According to other data aggregated by the ACLU of Northern California, the three main causes for wrongful convictions are unreliable and false evidence, illegal conduct and serious mistakes carried out by law enforcement officers and prosecutors, and a lack of adequate defense. These are important things for individuals to think about when they are facing criminal charges, especially those that can lead to lengthy prison sentences. It is clear through research that it is possible to be convicted of a crime even if one is innocent. Furthermore, this is a problem that can potentially take years to correct.
How Having a Knowledgeable Lawyer May Help
A knowledgeable San Jose criminal defense attorney can greatly improve individuals’ chances of avoiding wrongful convictions. The lawyer can challenge any weak and questionable evidence, especially evidence that was obtained through illegal search and seizure. The lawyer can also hold law enforcement accountable when they have infringed upon the rights of the defendant, such as by making an unlawful arrest. In some cases, defendants are victims of police corruption. For example, the California Wrongful Conviction Project’s findings included 53 individuals whose wrongful convictions were overturned due to the Rampart police scandal in Los Angeles, which occurred in the 1990s.
When individuals fail to secure adequate legal representation, they place their futures at risk. Anyone who wants to make sure to secure dedicated and top-quality defense for a criminal case should contact my office as soon as possible. I am Edward N. Ajlouny, a San Jose criminal defense lawyer who is committed to helping my clients obtain favorable outcomes in their cases. I am able to provide representation for various types of criminal cases, including those that involve drug crimes, sex crimes, violent crimes and much more. Because I previously served as a prosecutor in the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office, I know how prosecutors think and how to challenge their allegations in the most effective way. Call me today!
