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Both Sides of the Bars | Focusing On The Wrongfully Convicted

ProducerKhalil Cumberbatch
DescriptionAs the pace of DNA exonerations has grown nationwide in recent years, wrongful convictions have revealed disturbing fissures and trends in our criminal justice system. Those who have been exonerated by DNA testing aren’t the only people who have been wrongfully convicted in recent decades. For every case that involves DNA, there are hundreds that do not. Only a fraction of criminal cases involves biological evidence that can be subjected to DNA testing, and even when such evidence exists, it is often lost or destroyed after a conviction. Since they don’t have access to a definitive test like DNA, many wrongfully convicted people have a slim chance of ever proving their innocence. There are more innocent people in our jails and prisons today than ever before. The rate of exonerations continues to rise, revealing an unreliable system of criminal justice. A lack of accountability for police and prosecutors, and a reliance on junk science and mistaken eyewitnesses are major contributors to wrongful convictions that have undermined the credibility of our system and ruined the lives of innocent men and women. Today’s episode of “Both Sides of the Bars” focuses on Jeffery Deskovic, former exoneree and president of the Deskovic Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the exoneration of the wrongfully convicted, their recovery, and reform of the system that allows these miscarriages of justice to take place. A second guest, Keyon Sprinkle of Boston, was convicted of a crime he did not commit and he spent 20 years wrongfully imprisoned. He was released in February 2020 after his conviction was overturned and he was able to return home to his family. Keyon worked in partnership with the New England Innocence Project and a pro bono legal team.
DateSeptember 14, 2021
Length0:28:00
CategoryCommunity