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Imagine going to prison for something you did not do.  

In the early 1990s, the new power of DNA evidence revealed that a small percentage of inmates in our nation’s prisons were being locked away — some for life — for crimes they did not commit. 

They had been found guilty based on wrong eye-witness identifications, misconduct by law enforcement, faulty forensic testimony and junk science or simply been coerced into a confession. 

Since then, dozens of organizations have formed across the country to provide investigative and legal services to identify and free inmates who have been wrongfully convicted.  

More than 3,300 people in the U.S. have been exonerated since 1989 of crimes for which they were imprisoned, according to the 

Researchers looking more closely at the data also found that 

are more likely to be wrongfully convicted.  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about why wrongful convictions happen, their impact on lives and how more can be prevented. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on:

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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Imagine going to prison for something you did not do. MPR News host Angela Davis talks to an attorney with the Great North Innocence Project, which works to exonerate Minnesotans wrongly convicted of crimes, and with a Minnesota man who spent nearly seven years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. 

MPR News with Angela Davis - Imagine going to prison for something you did not do. MPR News host Angela Davis talks to an attorney with the Great North Innocence Project, which works to exonerate Minnesotans wrongly convicted of crimes, and with a Minnesota man who spent nearly seven years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. 

Why the innocent end up in prison

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