In the late 1980s, a comprehensive review of wrongful convictions in the U.S. uncovered 350 instances where innocent defendants were found guilty of capital crimes “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In five of those cases, the error was discovered before sentencing. The other 345 were not so lucky: 67 were sentenced to prison for up to twenty-five years, 139 were sentenced to life in prison, and another 139 were sentenced to death. At the time of the review, 23 defendants had already been executed. As Wesleyan University psychologist Scott Plous summed up in his book The Psychology of Judgment and
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