The Death Penalty and Innocence

Nationally, 139 people have been exonerated in the United States. Exoneration means that a court of law has overturned their guilty plea, not on a technicality, but on the belief that they are innocent.

Three people have been exonerated in Missouri.

Leading factors for exoneration are: mistaken identity, police misconduct, prosecutorial misconduct and false witness testimony.

See The Innocence Project website for more information on the causes of wrongful convictions. Innocenceproject.org