Innocence Blog

Rob Warden: Wrongful Conviction Tab Tops $100 Million

Posted: December 19, 2008 3:15 pm

Rob Warden, director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago, writes today in the Huffington Post that settlements from civil lawsuits in wrongful conviction cases have cost Illinois taxpayers $100 million. Until taxpayers begin to hold their government accountable for reforming the criminal justice system, they will continue to foot the bill for the injustice suffered by countless citizens, he writes.

The only accountability has been the taxpayers' — perhaps deservedly so, given that it is they who have tolerated, and continue to tolerate, widespread police and prosecutorial malfeasance.

None of the police and prosecutors who were actually responsible for the misconduct that led to the awards ever have paid a single cent.

Read Warden’s full post here. (Huffington Post, 12/19/08)