Trial and Error
The Outcry for Justice in the Dennis Dechaine Case
In 23 years, 2,000 exonerations
May 21, 2012
Portland Press Herald 5-21-12
(WASHINGTON) — More than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the United States in the past 23 years, according to a new archive compiled at two universities.
There is no official record-keeping system for exonerations of convicted criminals in the country, so academics set one up. The new national registry, or database, painstakingly assembled by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, is the most complete list of exonerations ever compiled.
The database compiled and analyzed by the researchers contains information on 873 exonerations for which they have the most detailed evidence. The researchers are aware of nearly 1,200 other exonerations, for which they have less data.
They found that those 873 exonerated defendants spent a combined total of more than 10,000 years in prison, an average of more than 11 years each. Nine out of 10 of them are men and half are African-American.
Read the Book
Human Sacrifice: On the Altar of Injustice
High-quality soft-cover edition, 418 pages,
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I would encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Liberty’s Prison: The Inmate’s Son Who Radically Reformed an American Prison. The book features the life and career of Maine’s Commissioner of Corrections Randall “Randy” Liberty and includes interviews with several men who are currently incarcerated at the Maine State Prison. Although the author uses pseudonyms, I’m certain that the man named “John” is Dennis. This book gives us a glimpse into “John’s” life behind bars, an opportunity to learn about all of the good he is doing for the benefit of his fellow inmates. No one who knows Dennis will be the least bit surprised!