Death row exoneree Anthony Graves (pictured, right, with Sen. Richard Durbin after testifying before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights in 2012) has experienced what he calls the “injustice of the justice system” and is working to make the system better. Graves was exonerated from death row in Texas in 2010, 16 years after being wrongfully convicted in a multiple murder case. Using some of the $1.5 in compensation that he was awarded for his wrongful imprisonment, Graves created the Anthony Graves Foundation with a mission “to promote fairness and effect reform in the criminal justice system.” Now, he is advocating for broad criminal justice reforms to redress not only problems with the death penalty, but with questionable forensic evidence, racially disparate sentencing, the imprisonment of people with mental illness or drug addictions, and laws that unnecessarily require jail time or carry harsh mandatory minimum sentences. In an interview with Voice of America, Graves said, referring to the Texas criminal justice system: “You tried to murder me and I want to stay in your face every day to remind you that we need to do better.” He described his advocacy, saying, “I use my story to educate people, but more importantly, keep it on people’s minds about the injustice that is going on in our criminal justice system.”
(G. Flakus, “Exonerated After 18 Years in Prison, Black Man Fights for Reform,” Voice of America, November 17, 2015.) See Innocence.
