In situations where evidence had been stored, clients of the Innocence Project (a nonprofit group that helps prisoners protesting their innocence) were exonerated in almost half the cases. These exonerations raised dozens of questions. Why were police pursuing the wrong suspects? Why were eyewitnesses misidentifying criminals? Why were interrogation techniques used by the police leading to false conclusions? Why were the courts failing? And what could be done about it? There was a wider question, too: What about the system more generally? DNA is relevant in only a small number of cases (rapes,
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