In recent years, numerous prosecutors across the nation have created conviction integrity units to address claims of wrongful conviction. Over the last several years, these units have reviewed various cases and dismissed dozens of convictions to date. For example, Brooklyn’s District Attorney’s Office under Kenneth Thompson created a 10-prosecutor conviction integrity unit in 2011 that is currently investigating approximately 90 cases. The Brooklyn Conviction Integrity Unit has led to the dismissals of at least 10 cases—eight of them in 2014 alone. In 2007, Dallas County District Attorney’s Office formed a two-prosecutor, one-investigator unit, which has reviewed over 400 cases and has exonerated 33 innocent individuals. In Chicago, an in-house review unit at Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has reversed at least six wrongful convictions since 2012. Additionally, Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office began their conviction integrity unit in the early 2000’s. It was later terminated, then re-established in 2011 by a new district attorney. It has reviewed more than 100 cases and has overturned the convictions of at least five people.
Read more about other conviction-review initiatives in the United States here.
