Wrongful Convictions: Understanding the Experiences of the Original Crime Victims (original) (raw)
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“It Never, Ever Ends”: The Psychological Impact of Wrongful Conviction
2010
The Psychological Impact of Wrongful Conviction i. exoneree mentAl heAlth: PersonAl AccoUnts "N o matter what happens to you, you are constantly put under this eye of distrust that you can never shake. I walked into a supermarket in town, and a lady picked up her child. The little girl said, 'That's the man who was on TV, Mommy.' She rushed over and grabbed her child and said, 'Don't go near him.' I just left my stuff and walked out. It never, ever ends. It never ends. It never ends. It never will be ended." 1 These are the words of Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl. 2 Bloodsworth spent nine years in prison, two of which were spent on death row. 3 Although exonerees suffer different types of mental illness, and to varying degrees, after spending time in prison for crimes they did not commit, one thing is certain-they all suffer. According to a Michigan study, many exonerated individuals grapple with emotional problems after they have been released, many are angry, and some resort to crime. 4 Exonerees are pulled out of their communities for crimes they did not commit, an injustice that most people could not imagine. Exonerees do not have to imagine this, however, because this is their reality. Upon release, exonerees experience a range of difficulties that exacerbate the mental health problems that they can expect to grapple with. They come as a result of being wrongfully ripped from their homes and families, some for many years. Exonerees struggle to reintegrate into society, reclaim normality, and carve out a stable existence. 5 They return to society only to face poverty, employment discrimination, societal discrimination, and broken relationships. 6 A survey conducted by the "Life After Exoneration Program" of nearly sixty exonerees found that one-third of them were financially dependent on family and friends upon release from prison. 7 Most exonerees claim that employment is their most dire need upon re-entry to society. 8 A majority of exonerees are men who, hardened by prison, would rather find employment immediately than go into counseling. 9 Exonerees have no legal right to get their former jobs back and when applying for new ones, must still answer "yes" when asked if they have an arrest or conviction record, even if the conviction has been thrown out. 10 This greatly diminishes their prospects of being hired, further exacerbating any existing psychological problems. 11 Another obstacle that many exonerees face is non-automatic record expungement. 12 Thus, an employer may do a background check and decide not to even interview an exoneree because of his remaining arrest record. 13 Unemployment and trouble with record expungement are just two of the many factors that contribute to exoneree mental illness. Ronald Keith Williamson was exonerated from death row in Oklahoma after serving nine years in prison for a rape and murder that he did not commit. 14 After his release, he has endured mental health problems, has been unable to hold down a job, and now lives in a group home in Oklahoma. 15 The state has made no effort, in his case, to ease the burden of his circumstances. 16 He received nothing more than the standard $50 check that all inmates in Oklahoma receive upon release. 17 While in prison, Williamson was so depressed he tried to hang himself, and now reports that he sometimes has flashbacks. 18 Although he is not currently suicidal, he is not sure that he wants to live. 19 When he was merely sixteen years old, Michael Anthony Williams was wrongfully incarcerated for the rape of his tutor. 20 He served twenty-four years-more than half of his life-before he was exonerated, and upon release, he said that he faced
After innocence: Perceptions of individuals who have been wrongfully convicted
Legal and Criminological Psychology, 2013
ABSTRACT PurposeAlthough it is easy to assume that individuals who have been wrongfully convicted are stigmatized, research has not systematically examined this issue. This research compares perceptions of individuals who have been wrongfully convicted to perceptions of offenders to investigate the stigma that wrongfully convicted persons report. Method Participants were randomly assigned to complete surveys regarding their attitudes, stereotypes, and discrimination tendencies towards one of three different groups: individuals who were wrongfully convicted of a crime, actual offenders, or people in general (control). ResultsResults suggested contemptuous prejudice towards offenders and wrongfully convicted persons. In comparison to the control group, individuals who had been wrongfully convicted were stereotyped more negatively, elicited more negative emotions, and were held at a greater social distance. Although participants did report greater pity for wrongfully convicted persons than others, this pity did not translate into greater assistance or support. Conclusions Perceptions of wrongfully convicted persons appear similar to negative, stigmatized views of offenders. Individuals faced stigma and discrimination even after exoneration.
45 Hofstra L. Rev. 365, 2016
Innocent people have been convicted of crimes they did not commit throughout history. The exact number of wrongful convictions is unknowable. In 2014, however, the National Academy of Sciences ("NAS") released a study of the cases of criminal defendants who were convicted and sentenced to death and concluded that 4.1% were wrongfully convicted.' The researchers explained that "this is a conservative estimate of the proportion of false conviction among death sentences in the United States." 2 According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,561,500 adults were incarcerated in federal prisons, state prisons, and county jails in 2014, with an additional 4,708,100 adults under community supervision programs such as probation and parole.3 If we apply the NAS conservative estimate to just those who are incarcerated, there are more than 90,000 people wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in the United States. Co-authors: Gwen Jordan, Aliza B. Kaplan, Keith A. Findley
“What Happened to Me Can Happen to Anybody”—Women Exonerees Speak Out
Texas A&M Law Review
Only a few studies have investigated the psychological consequences of wrongful conviction; several others have examined the psychological consequences of incarceration and its impact on reentry and reintegration, primarily for men. For women who have been wrongfully convicted and subsequently released from prison into the free world, there are further indignities and unique issues: having to deal with the deep personal loss of murdered loved ones along with criminal charges; the absence of DNA evidence, making convictions harder to fight; stigmatization by prosecutors and the media; and unique emotional and medical needs. This Article presents findings from in-depth interviews with twenty-one exonerated women and describes the unique qualities and needs faced by wrongfully convicted women during their arrest, trial, conviction, imprisonment, release, and post-release, and the creative and resourceful strategies that have helped them cope with an untenable reality. By giving voice t...
Forever Guilty: Convict Perceptions of Pre and Post Conviction
Current Issues Crim. Just., 2009
This study explores the experience of people who have been publicly declared guilty. It retells the narratives of offenders from the point of arrest through to conviction and, where relevant, imprisonment and release. The experiences of close relatives are also explored and provide an important part of the thesis. These accounts are set against the institutional context of the criminal justice system and a systemic account of police, courts, prisons and community corrections is provided. The main aim of the study is to investigate and document the impact of the criminal justice process on offenders' sense of 'self'.
Psychological Effects of Wrongful Imprisonment & Incarceration
2020
Wrongful imprisonment as the name suggests best describes a legal situation where a person is convicted and incarcerated in connection with a crime that he or she has not committed. While statistics and surveys have shown a significant rise in the trend in the past two decades, not much has been discussed on the adverse psychological impact the victims face after they are exonerated. This paper reviews existing literatures and examines content of surveys conducted on exonerees by the Innocence project and other researchers, and draws a substantive background with available information on their life and mental experiences, post-prison. The research also identifies other notable factors that contribute to the challenge of wrongful convictions and imprisonment in the criminal Justice System. Accessing contents of various interviews and personal accounts, the research draws to the conclusion that psychological challenges are a significant problem for exonerees; and the outcomes are highly devastating. Proper Legislation is also proposed to create guidelines and establish clear policies on the issues that have been identified to mar the accuracy of the judicial system in delivering just judgments and reduce the risk of wrongful imprisonment.
The Zemiological Afterlife of Wrongful Conviction: Spoiled Identity, Repair and Survivorship
Critical criminology, 2024
Building on the recent global interest in 'innocence projects', this article critically examines the various harms experienced by the wrongfully convicted after their release from prison. Locating itself within the zemiology literature, it uses the memoirs of a number of wrongfully convicted persons to conduct a narrative victimological critique of social harms that are often unacknowledged in policy and practice around the reintegration of the wrongfully convicted and in media and societal discussion of their experiences. Insights from these memoirs, it is argued, problematise the various forms of repair offered to the wrongly convicted because these often compound rather than alleviate particular postrelease social harms. However, the first-hand accounts contained within their memoirs also illustrate how, far from being caught in a state of passive victimhood, the wrongfully convicted often regain agency through activism and telling their story.
Causes of Wrongful Conviction: Looking at Student Knowledge
Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2008
Comparatively little research has examined the lives of exonerees postconviction. What research has been done in this area generally offers a clinical or criminological perspective on the tremendous consequences for the innocent (e.g., Campbell & Denov, 2004; Grounds, 2004; Westervelt & Cook, 2009). This chapter reviews the literature on the consequences of wrongful conviction, highlights current psychological research on the topic, offers suggestions for future research, and explores the impact research may have on policy and practice. Although some of the topics discussed may affect both offenders and wrongly convicted persons, the consequences of these factors may be particularly damaging for the innocent. CONSEQUENCES OF CONVICTION FOR THE INNOCENT One of the most dramatic consequences of wrongful conviction is incarceration. Imagine being strip searched, forced to relinquish your personal belongings, and processed. Then you are sent to prison-a culture and place very different from the life you have known-where your activities are monitored