Examples Of Exonerees

Public perception of exonerees
Wrongful convictions are essentially the miscarriage of justice brought upon an individual deriving from a criminal proceeding. It is when the defendant is convicted of a crime that they did not commit (Gould, Hail-Jares, Carrano, 2014). The error of the judgement is usually not proven until the individual has served a large portion of their jail sentence. Eyewitness misidentification, improper forensics, false confessions and informants (snitches) are the main contributing causes of wrongful convictions. Exonerees are the individuals who have had their convictions overturned. The exonerees can claim compensation as well as any lost wages whilst serving their jail sentence. When researchers ask the public’s perception of wrongful convictions, they found that their knowledge on the subject is very minimal. The public claim that the basis of what little knowledge they have on the subject, comes from the news (Blandisi, 2012). This shows that the media, popular culture as well as public opinion are constantly challenging the public perceptions on wrongful convictions. Racial stereotypes, class and prejudices are the main factors in which the public perceive to be the reason why there are so many wrongful convictions. It has only been in the recent decades that DNA testing has proven the innocents of hundreds
The importance of conducting research in the public’s perception of exonerees is to see which factors influence their views (whether it be age, gender, socioeconomic status), to the specific attitudes they hold regarding compensation and apologies, and also