The wrongful conviction of Ronnie Long might appear shocking: No physical evidence, false testimony, a conflicting description of the suspect – then 44 years in prison for Long.
But experts and advocates aren’t surprised: They say U.S. prisons are filled with potentially thousands of innocent people. While Long’s case is particularly egregious, experts told USA TODAY some of the factors that led to his imprisonment are still causing wrongful convictions today.
Relatedly from the Intercept, “Crime Scene DNA didn’t match Marcellus Williams. Missouri may fast track his execution anyway.” (archived
Black people comprise 53% of the 3,200 exonerations listed in the registry, making African Americans seven times more likely than their white counterparts to be falsely convicted of serious crimes, according to the organization’s report. Potkin said that racial disparities in wrongful conviction mirror disparities seen throughout the criminal justice system including policing, jury selection and pretrial detention.
Remember things like this next time someone is telling you how systemic racism doesn’t exist.
Or a presidential candidate says we are not a racist country.
And she was supposed to be the respectable establishment moderate choice in that primary
I’m not disagreeing with you, but it’s important to note that Haley said the US was never racist. What she said about the country that had race-based chattel slavery, one drop laws that made you a non-citizen if any of your ancestors were people of color, and riots when black children tried to go to school was, and I quote, “We’re not a racist country…We’ve never been a racist country.”
Later on in the campaign Vivek Ramaswamy would end his candidacy after a poor performance in Iowa. At least one voter said they voted against him because he ‘reminds me of 9/11’. Ramaswamy is American-born and of Indian descent. India had nothing to do with 9/11.
I also like to point out to those people the fact that, while white Americans use recreational drugs at a slightly higher rate than black Americans, black Americans are arrested for it 10 times as much per capita.
not just arrested more often. once they’re arrested, a black person is more likely than a white person to be criminally charged. once charged, a black person is more likely to be convicted. once convicted, a black person is more likely to get a custodial sentence instead of some sort of rehab, and if they both get custodial sentences a black person’s is likely to be longer.
But yeah, the rate of self-reported drug use shows no statistically significant correlation to race.
Now, do the calculation again, but by gender.
And then do it again, and this time use race AND gender.
Always remember, when you read stories like these, that the wrong done to the person who has been wrongfully convicted is only one aspect of the tragedy. The other aspect is that the investigators’ myopic focus on convicting this individual has allowed the actual murderer to remain free to kill again.
