I wrote the cover story for the Fall 2011 Temple Review (Temple’s Alumni Magazine) on the Innocence Project, which works to free prison inmates who were wrongfully convicted for various reasons. Here’s a link to the article:
http://www.temple.edu/temple_review/2011_fall/f1_TrialsandConviction.html
Very compelling article. Can you imagine how many people have been “railroaded” over the centuries and sent away when they were innocent. I remember as a youth studying the Lindbergh baby case, and of course the Hurricane Carter saga which was made into a film with Denzel Washington (also immortalized by Bob Dylan in a long a rambling song). It’s often been said that we have a terrible system of justice, except when you compare it to every other one in civilized history. This is why I don’t believe in the death penalty. Too many people taken off the streets by overzealous authorities who for one reason or another want to get a case solved. In 1989 I was a juror on a murder one trial where this happened. It is a long and sad story, one of the most difficult weeks of my life. For me it was only week…for the convicted man a lifetime without possibility of parole.