Cornelius Dupree Jr., center, raises his hands in celebration with his lawyer Nina Morrison, left, and attorney Barry Scheck in Dallas on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. Dupree served 30 years for rape and robbery before being exonerated by DNA evidence.
A Texas judge this week declared Cornelius Dupree an innocent man, clearing him thirty years after he was wrongfully accused of rape and robbery. More than two-hundred-sixty Americans have been exonerated by DNA evidence since nineteen-eight-nine. Many, like Cornelius Dupree, were victims of eyewitness misidentification. In other cases, improper forensic science, false confessions, or unreliable snitches played a role. The criminal justice community is trying new ways to avoid false imprisonment– from independent investigations to post-conviction case reviews. Using DNA to overturn wrongful convictions.
[UCI's Bill Thompson, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, appears as a guest on NRP's Diane Rehm Show Thursday, January 6, 2011. The show will discuss causes of false convictions]
