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* ABC7 I-Team…

It has been called an American epidemic.

Wrongful convictions have led to people who were later exonerated losing more than 21,000 years in U.S. prisons. Illinois is the top state in the country for wrongful convictions.

Now, the state agency that oversees police training is mandating classes aimed at eliminating that.

Exonerees share their stories with police cadets.

“My name is Marvin Cotton Jr. and I served 19 years, seven months and 12 days in prison for crime that I did not commit,” one exoneree said. […]

“Not only the first state to mandate it, but it’s the first state to have this training. To our knowledge, when there’s nobody else in the country that is doing this type of training. And so, we’re very proud of that and proud that our legislatures thought enough of this program to make it a mandatory training to help right the wrongs of the past,” said Wrongful Conviction Awareness & Avoidance Director Marc Beach. […]

“I spent 23 years as a police officer,” Beach said. “I actually had no idea that wrongful convictions were really even an issue. The system that I represent would do that to somebody, and it would get it wrong. And so, I said, you know, I have to I have to do something to make that better.”

Go read the rest.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 7:37 am

Comments

I am thrilled to hear the state is doing this, and it seems like it should be done in other states as well.

Besides being the very definition of injustice, wrongful convictions undermine overall confidence in the system.

An effort to address this serves everyone well.

Thanks to whomever sponsored this legislation.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 8:17 am
This is a great idea, instead of ensuring justice is done law enforcement can too often turn into a win at all costs system which leads to these horror stories.

Comment by Parlay Player Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 8:21 am
number of training sessions, number of cadets, but years of loss in prison….should have number of people who account for those years. and across what time period. to see the full picture.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 8:31 am
This is great to include in police training.

Police should always be aware of the human cost of abusing their authority and violating people’s Constitutional rights.

Politicians should get the same kinds of lectures and training on this and other forms of constitutional violations

Comment by JB13 Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 9:41 am
No blame for over zealous,district attorneys?

Comment by Must win Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 10:05 am
Must Win brings up a good point. What about rookie Assistant States’ Attorneys? They should participate also or offer it as part of mandatory CLE.

Comment by Original Rambler Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 10:15 am
While this is all fine and dandy, the police are only a small part of this. They investigate and arrest, but ultimately it’s the prosecutor’s decision to press charges. Not enough evidence? Prosecutor should drop charges. Then you have a judge and/or jury deciding guilt or innocence, as well as sentencing.

Comment by Just a Random Guy Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 10:16 am
Just a Random Guy - I worked with a man who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for almost 20 years. Chicago police forced a confession out of him for a double homicide that it was impossible for him to have committed (he was in jail on an unrelated charge at the of the murders). Police records backed up his innocence and yet he was found guilty based only on the confession. Of course, the prosecutor has culpability in this case, but without the police forcing a confession, he would never have been charged at all.

Comment by SAW Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 10:29 am
@Saw:

I’m not going to defend the police who forced the confession. Their conduct was unacceptable.

But the State’s Attorney who accepted the cops’ actions and took that innocent man to trial?

Should have been disbarred.

I live in a county where our current State’s Attorney has fought to keep an innocent man in prison for the murder of a young girl.

The only reason I could give you for the SA’s conduct is that the State’s Attorney who sent that innocent man to prison became the Chief Judge for the County, and we mustn’t besmirch her political patron’s character? Should we?

She’s someone I considered a friend. It’s been very painful–for so many different reasons–to watch.

Comment by Lynn S. Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 11:16 am
In my experience, wrongful convictions are a part of CLE Trainings offered at trainings held by the State Appellate Prosecutors Office for ASAs. If that type of education is not a mandatory aspect of prosecutors’ CLE ethics hours requirements, it should be.

Comment by Parlay Player Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 11:39 am
Great story. Great training. Hopefully there’s a component about how to maintain your ethics when you go to work in a culture covering up at the risk of being ostracized or worse. Changing those cultures is the challenge in a revolving door hiring system and lack of accountability running up alongside a reflexive Back the Blue.

Still, great step by Illinois in trying to right a big issue. I haven’t hit the google on it, but likely it’s also an economic justice issue, as people without the financial resources don’t get an adequate defense.

Comment by Apple Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 11:41 am
SAW - yikes. That is sad and terrible to hear. I suppose my point is there are many levels to this that need addressed. Thank you for sharing.

Comment by Just a Random Guy Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 12:07 pm
I fault prosecutors almost more than police. They used to take an oath to do justice not to win cases That should be the goal not “victories “.

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 12:11 pm
“I spent 23 years as a police officer. I actually had no idea that wrongful convictions were really even an issue.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Marc Beach was a patrol sergeant in the Village of Rantoul from 1996-2023.

In January 2000, George Ryan declared a moratorium on the death penalty due to wrongful convictions. Three years later, he commuted the sentences of everyone on death row for the same reason.

I’m glad that Mr. Beach is now working to prevent injustices, but I have a tough time believing that any cop in the state was unaware of our long and notorious history of wrongful convictions.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 1:55 pm
“Illinois is the top state in the country for wrongful convictions.”

I was immediately skeptical because Florida. Then I saw at the end of the article that we actually excel in OVERTURNED wrongful convictions, meaning we’re trying to do something about it?

A little extra reading and now I know that Florida is indeed bad, and that Louisiana experiences very few exonerations despite New Orleans’ being prime candidate for wrongful conviction capital of the U.S.

Comment by yinn Tuesday, Aug 6, 24 @ 2:26 pm