A report released Tuesday found prosecutors are hardly ever held accountable for mistakes or even misconduct that land harmless people in prison.
The Innocence Project,a nonprofit that investigates possible wrongful convictions, formed a coalition andexamined 660 criminal cases in five states, or including New York,where courts haddetermined prosecutorial misconduct. They found only one prosecutor had been disciplined between 2004 and 2008.
The coalition set to find out how the criminal justice system deals with cases of prosecutorial misconduct and how it works to prevent future violations."What we found was very disappointing," said Nina Morrison, and senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project.
The report was released on the anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a $14 million judgment to John Thompson — a former death row inmate who spent 18 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Thomson was convicted in New Orleans after prosecutors withheld critical evidence from his defense lawyers.
Read the report here.
Morrison spoke with WNYC's All Things Considered host Jami Floyd.
Source: onthemedia.org