10 People Who Were Probably Wrongly Executed
Miscarriages of justice?
Since its release, Making A Murderer has had Netflix viewers on the edge of their seats and has inspired a wider cultural response to the question of whether Steven Avery actually did what he was accused of and imprisoned for. The truth is, we may never find out the truth about what happened to Theresa Halbach but there is certainly precedent to suggest a surprising number of people have been falsely convicted.
And worse.
As of 1st October 2015, there were approximately 3,000 prisoners on Death Row in America. Since 1976, 1,427 people have been executed and rather grimly, it is believed that some of that number could have been innocent. Notwithstanding retracted witness statements, new evidence and later confessions, only eight inmates have been exonerated after their execution. But how many others were innocent?
These days, DNA evidence plays a big part when solving murder cases, but without that or any physical evidence it is up to eyewitness testimony to bring murderers to justice. But is that really enough to convict someone of murder? As Making A Murderer has made abundantly clear, humans arent perfect and everybody makes mistakes, but when that mistake costs someone their lives, should it really be dismissed?
This article looks at 10 separate cases where there is substantial evidence - even confessions from others - which could strongly indicate that innocent men have been sent to their deaths. And sadly for those listed, the evidence to prove their innocence was either too late or just completely disregarded.