Life After Exoneration

• In Event: Issues and Challenges in Reentry

Abstract

Since 1989 there have been 1733 exonerations, with the numbers of exonerations doubling since 2011. In 2015 there were a minimum of 149 exonerations in 29 states in the US, with an average time served of 14.5 years. Given the time served by these individuals, it is important that the life after these events is examined and explored to understand the effect that these wrongful convictions have.
Generally, when individuals are released from prison at the end of their sentence they should be provided with support and guidance in order to resettle back into the community. However, exonerees are provided no such support and are effectively cast back into the community with no support or care. This paper explores how exonerees go about attempting to rebuild their lives upon release from prison in the absence of such formalised state support. Drawing on published biographies and media interviews with exonerees, this paper illustrates the significant gap in services and the failure of the state to support exonerees. Building on research already undertaken by Grounds (2005) in understanding the long-term effects of wrongful imprisonment, this paper seeks to move forward from this by focusing on the practical challenges that exonerees face.

Author

• Linda Asquith, Leeds Beckett University, UK