Twenty-sev­en peo­ple were exon­er­at­ed and released from prison this year, includ­ing some who had been on death row, accord­ing to a new report from The Innocence Project, a nation­al lit­i­ga­tion and pub­lic pol­i­cy orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to exon­er­at­ing wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed peo­ple. The 27 exonerees served a com­bined 421 years in prison for crimes they did not com­mit. The exon­er­a­tions occurred through the work of the Innocence Project Network, which con­sists of 54 orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing 45 in the U.S. The Innocence Project con­cen­trates on wrong­ful con­vic­tions and uses DNA test­ing, while also pro­mot­ing reform of the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. (Click on the thumb­nail to access full text of the report.) The most recent per­son exon­er­at­ed was James Bain, who was impris­oned for 35 years before DNA test­ing revealed that some­one else had com­mit­ted the crime that led to his conviction.

According to the Innocence Project, Bain was released from prison on December 17 in Florida and became a free man for the first time since 1974. He was the 248th per­son exon­er­at­ed through DNA evi­dence in the United States. Bain was 19 years old when he was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to life in prison. He sought DNA test­ing sev­er­al times on appeal, but was denied in 2001, 2003 and 2006. The Innocence Project of Florida took on his case and obtained DNA test­ing on evi­dence from the crime scene. The results con­firmed that Bain was not the per­pe­tra­tor of the crime. ​“I guess I kind of feel like when they first land­ed on the moon,” he told reporters after his release. ​“We have touch­down,” he said, laughing.

(“Innocence Network Exonerations 2009,” The Innocence Project, December 2009). See also Innocence and Studies.

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