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How many innocents in prison: Exonerations make up 3% of Texas DNA case resolutions

It's hard to say if the data reflect a rate or percentage of wrongful convictions, but more than 3% of criminal cases solved by DNA since Texas began using the forensic technology have resulted in overturned convictions. Somehow I'd missed the news announced earlier this year that Texas solved its 1,000th criminal case using DNA. OTOH, Texas has witnessed 33 exonerations of innocent men (mostly in sexual assault cases) using DNA evidence. DNA exists in only about 10% of violent crimes, so the group is a pretty random sample compared to the larger criminal class. Might the rate of exonerations to convictions based on DNA give a potential wrongful conviction rate? There are a lot of factors going into both convictions and exonerations, so I'm not sure the comparison is entirely valid - too many variables...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 26, 2008 (boomark / email).