When innocents go to prison...

[Archae]

Why does it always seem that it takes decades before they are exonerated?

I mean, is it usually "You're convicted, now we can just forget about you..."

[pipoman]

1. Usually there is no compelling evidence to the contrary for a long time..

Once someone is convicted the threshold for a new trial is pretty high.

[Major Nikon]

2. That and pretty much zero access to a competent defense

The question we should be asking is how many innocents rot in jail without ever being vindicated.

[pipoman]

4. A fair amount

And more since this 30 year era of plea bargain dominance.

I worked on a fair amount of defense cases over 20 years. Some stand out as clearly unjust. Half of the unjust are innocent people scared into a plea or convicted, the other half are guilty people never charged or otherwise freed.

Some guilty must go free to assure the least amount of innocents convicted. What upsets this balance is the system of plea bargaining...time to reign it in .

[davidn3600]

3. State doesnt want to admit it made a mistake

Not only because it could cause liability (many states have laws where a person wrongfully convicted because of a prosecution error is subject to compensation)... but it can ruin credibility of the system and endanger current and future trials.

Also if it involves a corrupt police officer, it could bring other cases that cop worked on into question.