Every day, innocent men across America are thrown into prison, betrayed
by a faulty justice system, and robbed of their lives - either by
decades-long sentences or the death penalty itself. Injustice tarnishes
our legal process from start to finish. From the racial discrimination
and violence used by backwards law enforcement officers, to a prison
culture that breeds inmate conflict, there is opportunity for error at
every turn.
Award-winning journalist, Stanley Cohen, chronicles over 100 of these
cases, from the 1973 case of the first ever death row exoneree, David
Keaton, to multiple cases as of 2015 that resulted from the corrupt
practices of NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella (with nearly 70 Brooklyn
cases under review for wrongful conviction). In the wake of these unjust
convictions, grassroots organizations, families, and pro bono lawyers
have battled this rampant wrongdoing. Cohen reveals how eyewitness
error, jailhouse snitch testimony, racism, junk science, prosecutorial
misconduct, and incompetent counsel have populated America's prisons
with the innocent.
Listeners embark on journeys with men who were arrested, convicted,
sentenced to life in prison or death, dragged through the appeals
system, and finally set free based on their actual innocence. Although
these stories end with vindication, there are those that have ended with
unjustified execution. Convicting the Innocent is sure to fuel
controversy over a justice system that has delivered the ultimate
punishment nearly 1,000 times since 1976, though it cannot guarantee
accurate convictions.
