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Wrongful Conviction Research & Exoneration Data

Wrongful Conviction Research

What the National Registry of Exonerations and other credible research actually show about how often, and why, wrongful convictions happen.

Actual Innocence Claims

Actual Innocence

What it means to raise an actual-innocence claim after conviction, and why the legal system treats innocence as a gateway more often than a standalone remedy.

Post-Conviction Relief

Post-Conviction Relief

How appeals, state post-conviction petitions, and federal habeas corpus differ — and why the distinction matters.

Newly Discovered Evidence

Newly Discovered Evidence

How courts treat evidence that surfaces after a conviction — and why "new" evidence alone rarely reopens a case.

Forensic Evidence Errors

Forensic Evidence

Why not all "forensic science" rests on the same scientific footing — and how discredited or overstated methods have contributed to wrongful convictions.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

The constitutional standard for inadequate legal defense — and why it is notoriously difficult to satisfy, even for innocent defendants.

Brady Violations & Prosecutorial Disclosure

Brady / Disclosure

What prosecutors are constitutionally required to turn over to the defense — and how withheld evidence contributes to wrongful convictions.

Jailhouse Informants

Jailhouse Informants

Why testimony from incentivized informants is one of the most unreliable — and least scrutinized — forms of evidence.

False Confessions

False Confessions

How and why innocent people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit.

Eyewitness Identification

Eyewitness Identification

Why confident eyewitness testimony is one of the most common — and most fixable — causes of wrongful conviction.

ACLU — Know Your Rights

The national hub covering police encounters, protests, immigration status, and more — and the place to start for finding your state ACLU affiliate's own guidance.

Know Your Rights

Police Encounters

What to say — and not say — in the first few minutes of a police encounter, the moment a large share of documented wrongful convictions trace back to.