Millions of Americans are imprisoned across the United States. Time spent in jail is often isolating, and demeaning, and deprives prisoners of high-quality food, leisure activities, and even visits with family members or friends. Time in prison is not meant to be enjoyable, but for those who have been falsely accused of murder, it can be emotionally taxing and devastating. Contact a Houston homicide defense attorney for legal counsel.
Even though the United States judicial system may be considered one of the most comprehensive across the globe, false accusations and convictions continue to be a significant cause for concern. While many people may be wrongfully incarcerated, determining how common murder charges are can be challenging.
It is nearly impossible to determine exactly how many individuals are convicted on false murder charges. However, some data can support the sheer number of false murder and crime allegations. For example, according to the 2023 Plea Bargain Task Force Report by the American Bar Association, up to 98% of all convictions across the country are a result of plea agreements as opposed to guilty verdicts. As of March 2024, there have been 3,461 exonerations across the country since 1989 according to the National Registry of Exonerations. According to a research article by Samuel Gross and colleagues published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, up to 4% of all defendants sentenced to death are found to have been wrongfully convicted.
A study out of Ohio by James Frank from the University of Cincinnati asked various levels of legal professionals in the judicial space to estimate how many people are wrongfully convicted across the United States. 3/4 of those who responded answered more than 0% but less than 5%. When taking those numbers into account, this would mean out of the 2.3 million people across the country who are imprisoned according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), if even .5% of them are not guilty, there are 11,500 people currently incarcerated for crimes they did not commit.
Every year, there are around 195,000 new convictions across the United States according to the Prison Policy Initiative. If 0.5% of these individuals are innocent, but only 128 people were exonerated in 2023 according to the National Registry of Exonerations, Exonerations by State, which would mean that up to 96% of all convictions, including murder convictions, were falsely accused.
False murder charges can occur for several reasons. According to the Innocence Project of Texas, there are an estimated 9,000 individuals in Texas currently serving time for a wrongful conviction. It is not that the jury wanted to see the defendant convicted, but rather what was presented may not have been accurate. Some of the most common reasons for false murder charges include:
Texas does allow for those wrongfully convicted of murder and other serious offenses to be awarded restitution for their time spent in jail. If you believe you have been wrongfully convicted of a homicide, call a Houston criminal defense attorney to advocate for you. Those who were wrongfully convicted have the right to apply for restitution through the state to receive monetary compensation for their suffering. Under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Title 5 Sec. 103.001, someone who was wrongfully convicted can be awarded $80,000 for each year they were imprisoned and receive payment of child support for those years of incarceration.