New York Times Editorial Urges Compensation for Wrongly Convicted

The New York Times

published an editorial Wednesday on the importance of monetary compensation for wrongful convictions and calling for states to provide exonerees the same critical re-entry services that parolees get upon release, like job training and substance-abuse treatment. 

The article comes on the heels of recent news that New York City will pay a total of $17 million in settlements to three brothers who were exonerated in May.

The convictions of Robert Hill, Alvena Jennette and Darryl Austin were among the 130 handled by homicide detective Louis Scarcella which are now being reevaluated by Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson’s Conviction Integrity Unit. The trio spent a combined total of 60 years incarcerated for murders they didn’t commit. Darryl Austin died in prison in 2000.

The editorial notes that 20 states still do not have laws entitling wrongfully convicted individuals to compensation. In states with compensation laws, the process is often long and complicated.

Exonerees and their advocates have lobbied to pass compensation bills in numerous states, but in recent years such efforts have failed in Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Read the full editorial 

here

.