The Expungement Myth

• In Event: Miscarriages of Justice: Action in the Wake of Wrongful Convictions

Abstract

This article stems from a study of the post-release behavior of individuals following exoneration. Utilizing a data set of exonerees compiled from the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, the larger study tracks the behavior of 118 exonerees over a three-year period following their release, and examines the effect of more than twenty variables on the exonerees’ post-release criminality. In the course of conducting research on post-release behavior, the most comprehensive such study to date, an interesting and troubling finding emerged: expungement does not always follow exoneration. Though every member of our sample has been deemed not guilty by an official body, approximately forty-two percent of these exonerees still had evidence of the wrongful conviction on their record. This disturbing statistic has significant consequences for exonerees and the criminal justice system generally.

Authors

• Amy Shlosberg, Fairleigh Dickinson University

• Evan Mandery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Valerie West, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Bennett Callaghan, John Jay College of Criminal Justice