The Innocence Project: Barry Scheck And Peter J. Neufeld

So far the Innocence Project has helped exonerate 180 wrongfully convicted people, but have records of 337 exonerations in which they were not an influential factor. “The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University” (Our Work). There main mission is to free the numerous people who were wrongfully convicted while bringing reform to the criminal justice system. “Currently there are 2.3 million incarcerated in the United States” (Macionis, pg. 263) They believe about 2.3 to 5 percent of people incarcerated in the United States are innocent, which means about 52,900 to 115,000 men and women are potentially serving time for a crime they did not commit.

A person who is believed to be the real perpetrator is identified and becomes the primary suspect in the case. Most of these innocent people had little to no prior convictions or criminal history. A major problem is the interrogation process because law enforcement can interrogate people for hours, say they have evidence, lie about the evidence, and even threaten them with a harsher punishment. Approximately, 71 percent of the people who been exonerated are people of color and the rest are white. However, African Americans make up 61 percent of all whose who been exonerated. “This might be due to prejudice by police officers causes them to arrest African Americans more frequently thus over criminalizing African Americans” (Macionis, pg. 258). It was sad to see African Americans on every search page, but at the same time it is great to see the majority of them being exonerated. Even though, people of color make up 71% of the exonerees, approximately 60 percent of the victims in these cases were white. Furthermore, “whites accounted for 69.2 % of all arrests in 2011”, but a majority of the people who are incarcerated are people of color” (Macionis, pg. 257). Only .005% of the exonerees are of Asian descent and about 7% are of Latin descent. According to the reading, “Asian Americans enjoy a higher than average educational achievement and income due to family solidarity and discipline” (Macionis, pg.

The real perpetrators who have been apprehended were convicted of 146 additional crimes, which include 77 sexual assaults, 34 murders, and 35 other violent crimes. “About two -thirds of people released from prison are arrested again within three years” (Macionis, pg. 264). As innocent people serve time in prison, the real criminals are loose in society. The average person who is wrongfully convicted serves 13.5 years and on average is about 26.5 years old. “Crime rates rise sharply during adolescence, peak in the late teens and then fall as people get older” (Macionis, pg. 256). In a span of 16 years the Innocence Project have exonerated 263 innocent people and which is equivalent about 16.5 people per year. Approximately, out of the 52,600- 115,000 innocent people, a person has a .00031 to .00014 percent chance of being exonerated through this program. Approximately 60 percent of the exonerees have been compensated which in most states means 24, 000 dollars for every year incarcerated, but some states do not offer any type compensation. For instance, Jim Fogle spent 34 years in prison in Pennsylvania for the murder of a 15 year old girl. He was 30 years old at the time of his incarceration and was released in 2015. Pennsylvania does not have any state compensation law and may not be compensated for the 34 years he spent in