It seems like everyone is talking about the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer. In addition to debates about the specifics of Steven Avery's and Brendan Dassey's cases, the series also inspires conversations about exoneration, as Avery was exonerated in 2003 after spending 18 years in prison for a 1985 sexual assault he didn't commit.
A number of wrongly convicted people, their advocates and reporters have shared stories of exoneration in books and movies.
For a powerful overview of the effects of wrongful conviction, start with The Exonerated, a play told through interviews with people exonerated from death row. You can see a performance of The Exonerated featuring Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover via hoopla and even go behind the scenes with Living Justice: Love, Freedom and the Making of The Exonerated, in which playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen describe their political awakening and artistic process, from interviewing each person, to creating the script, to a performance for then-Illinois Gov. George Ryan.
For an in-depth look at an individual case, a number of exonerated prisoners have penned memoirs. Among those is Eye of the Hurricane author Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the boxer who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in the 1960s. The Denzel Washington movie The Hurricane chronicles his courageous fight for freedom, aided by a Brooklyn teenager and a group of Canadian activists.
The Central Park Five investigates the miscarriage of justice involving a group of young men who were wrongly convicted of a brutal assault in 1989 in New York City and who served complete sentences before a serial assailant confessed to the crime. Author Sarah Burns joined with her father, filmmaker Ken Burns, for a documentary on the case, The Central Park Five.
The Central Park Five is also available as a downloadable video.
Closer to home is the case of the Ford Heights Four, related in A Promise of Justice. Four Illinois men were wrongly convicted in a 1978 double murder, spending a combined 64 years in prison before they were exonerated with the help of a team of journalists and lawyers.
Interested in reading or watching more? See my Exonerated Prisoners Share Their Stories booklist.
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