2017 Innocents Database Exoneration Report

In 2017 there were 21,831 known exonerations in the United States, and 99,219 known exonerations in other countries. The 2017 Innocents Database Exoneration Report reports on information about those exonerations. The 2017 Innocents Database Exoneration Report is the third yearly report of information recorded in the Innocents Database. The Innocents Database is an ongoing independent non-profit project begun in February 1997. It is the only database in the world that records every documentable exoneration in the United States and every other country. This report is based on the more than 121,000 known exonerations in the United States and other countries in 2017. The report has more than three dozen tables and charts detailing a wealth of information that includes the number of exonerations by country, and by U.S. states and counties; and cumulative information about exonerees such as their years imprisoned, convicted crimes, the type of evidence that resulted in their exoneration, and their age when convicted and released from custody. Also included are the number of people exonerated by DNA evidence; the granting of a federal habeas petition; the assistance of a conviction review unit; and much much more. The Innocents Database includes a total of more than 129,000 wrongful conviction cases. The database is online at, www.justicedenied.org/exonerations.htm .

Hans Sherrer is President of the Justice Institute, and he is the Editor and Publisher of Justice Denied: the magazine for the wrongly convicted, which has been published since 1999. Hans Sherrer created and maintains the Innocents Database, which is the only database in the world that compiles all known exonerations in the United States and more than 118 other countries. Hans Sherrer has authored about 1,000 published articles, as well as authored law review and legal journal articles.