Lost Innocence: The Tragedy of Wrongful Convictions
Ellie Long ‘25
Ronnie Long, a resident of Concord, North Carolina, spent 44 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Long was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in 1976 when he was only 20 years old. He was found guilty during a jury trial and sentenced to life in prison. It wasn't until 2020 that his conviction was overturned due to the suppression of evidence, which included DNA that did not match Long. The original investigators on this case had found 43 fingerprints and several hairs at the crime scene which belonged to the suspect. These were tested and confirmed that they did not match Long's DNA, but this information was never disclosed. This was a serious violation of The Brady Rule, which was established in the landmark case Brady v. Maryland and requires prosecutors to turn over evidence that is favorable to the defendant. Additionally, the rape kit that was used was collected from a local hospital and provided to the Concord Police Department, but coincidentally went missing before trial. It was also revealed that officers with the Concord Police Department gave false testimony regarding the evidence at trial.
In 2015, Long became a client of the Duke Law Wrongful Convictions Clinic which worked closely with his lawyers to help uncover the exculpatory evidence that would ultimately exonerate him. After several years of fighting to reveal the truth, Long was finally released from prison on August 27th, 2020, at the age of 65. Long’s lawyers then filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Concord as well as the police department. He was awarded $25 million as compensation for the 44 years of his life that he lost. This case went down as the second largest wrongful conviction settlement ever recorded in the United States. However, no amount of money or words can fix the grave mistake that resulted in Long’s wrongful imprisonment for most of his life. Upon his release from prison, Long did not know what a cell phone, seatbelt, or the internet was because of how disconnected he had been from the world. He missed birthdays, deaths, the births of his grandchildren, and many more important milestones. The most unsettling thing about this case, though, is that he is just one of many people who have been wrongfully convicted in the United States.
Since 1989, the U.S. justice system has exonerated over 3,000 men and women who had been wrongfully convicted. They collectively share over 27,000 years in prison for crimes they were not responsible for. Furthermore, The National Registry of Exonerations (NRE), a public database that records all of the exonerations in the United States, showed that in 2024 there were a total of 147 recorded exonerations. On average, these people spent about 13.5 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Currently, there are still hundreds of innocent people trapped in prison, some of them even facing the death penalty.
The leading cause for these wrongful convictions is eyewitness identification as reported by The Innocence Project. This procedure is used to help identify suspects of a crime. Usually, a lineup or photo array will be conducted and witnesses will select the person they remember committing the crime. Typically, witnesses are experiencing a tremendous amount of stress and trauma, which can lead to inaccurate identifications. Official misconduct by police officers, prosecutors, and medical examiners is also a significant cause of wrongful convictions. The justice system is designed to be truthful and fair, but some people within this system do not follow those requirements. Prosecutors may suppress evidence or pressure witnesses into testifying a certain way and ultimately send an innocent person to prison. Inadequate defense is another reason for a wrongful conviction. Private lawyers can be very costly and public defenders are heavily burdened with many cases at one time, so they may be unable to provide the appropriate defense for their client. As a result, many innocent people who face a conviction end up pleading guilty to a crime they did not commit. According to The Innocence Project, approximately 18% of exonerees pleaded guilty to crimes they were not responsible for. These innocent people go on to spend years stuck in prison, feeling hopeless that no one is able to advocate for them.
This is where the Innocence Project comes in. The Innocence Project was initially founded in 1992 by two attorneys, Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, who both had the passion to promote criminal justice reform using DNA and other technologies to overturn wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project has helped exonerate hundreds of wrongfully convicted individuals, pass transformative state laws, and advocate for innocent people in prisons. There have been 253 successful exonerations with the help of the Innocence Project, and of those, 203 individuals were set free using DNA evidence. Neufeld and Scheck realized that if DNA can prove a person is guilty, it should be just as easy to prove someone is innocent. With that fact in mind, they started the Innocence Project as a legal clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, which is located in New York City. Currently, The Innocence Project headquarters remains in New York City, but there have been several more locations established around the country.
Over the years, DNA testing and technologies have become crucial in driving criminal justice reform and exonerating innocent people. When DNA evidence is not available, the Innocence Project works to present new and equally convincing evidence of a wrongful conviction (false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, or official misconduct). In addition to proving people's innocence, they also help exonerees to rebuild their life post release from prison. With assistance from social workers and the Exoneree Fund, these individuals are able to receive housing, access to healthcare, employment opportunities, and trauma support. Today, the Innocence Project continues to be a voice for the innocent men and women suffering in prisons.
There are still hundreds of people who are currently wrongfully incarcerated because of the inadequate job of the criminal justice system. Many of these people will spend several more years in prison until their case is heard, but with the continuous support of people and organizations across the country, there is hope. The shared experiences from previously exonerated individuals, like Ronnie Long, also significantly contribute to the harrowing truth of wrongful convictions. Long’s story is incredibly powerful and will continue to be a representation of the destructive effects of losing years from your life due to the neglectful work of the criminal justice system.
Ellie Long is a senior majoring in political science
Sources
Boudin, M. (2024, May 8). Ronnie Long, Black man who spent 44 years in prison for wrongful conviction, looks back at life and everything he lost.https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/investigations/ronnie-long-seeking-justice-wrongful-conviction-imprisonment-record-settlement-north-carolina/275-02367ce6-e8b3-423c-b298-94cbf9547adc
Death Penalty Information Center. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/innocence
Park, A. (2024, January 5). Exonerated Wrongful Convictions Clinic client Ronnie Long receives $25 million settlement.https://law.duke.edu/news/exonerated-wrongful-convictions-clinic-client-ronnie-long-receives-25-million-settlement
The Innocence Project. Research Resources. https://innocenceproject.org/research-resources/
The National Registry of Exonerations. Exonerations in 2024.
https://exonerationregistry.org/sites/exonerationregistry.org/files/documents/2024_Annual_Report.pdf
US Claims. (2024, September 13). How many people are wrongfully convicted?.https://usclaims.com/educational-resources/how-many-people-are-wrongfully-convicted/
