Education Interrupted: An Explanatory Sequential, Mixed Methods, Multiple Case Study to Explore the Educational and Training Needs of Exonerated Individuals.

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Abolitionist Pedagogies for Transforming Education and Society

Abstract

This mixed methods study explores the educational needs of exonerees—individuals who have been officially cleared of crimes following new evidence of innocence. Although exonerees are wrongfully incarcerated for an average of 14.6 years, only 16 states and D.C., provide educational benefits upon release. In the quantitative phase, data from 4,138 exonerees were analyzed to determine whether the proxy variable of educational need differed for exonerees under the age of 25 years, male exonerees, and Black exonerees. In the qualitative phase, exonerees were interviewed to explore their educational experiences from preincarceration through postincarceration. The study concluded with a call for all jurisdictions to enact wrongful conviction compensation statutes that provide educational and skills training benefits for exonerees.

Author

• Tiffani D. Hurst, Drexel University