There are a host of factors that contribute to false convictions.  The following list includes some of the problems plauging our current system as well as solutions to restore justice.

Legislation to provide death row inmates with better access to DNA evidence and qualified lawyers is gathering momentum in Congress, fueled by recent Supreme Court decisions and high-profile exonerations of prisoners who had been sentenced to die.

Calvin Scott, 48, knows a world of hurt. As a foster child, he had cayenne pepper put in his mouth and was beaten with an electrical cord. He had to work the cotton fields while other youngsters his age attended school. His family abandoned him long ago.

Innocent people have languished in our prisons for years, some of them on death row. This is a horrible blot on our nation’s justice system. Since 1989, DNA has been used to exonerate more than 233 innocent prisoners in the United States. At least 123 of them had received death sentences before they were proven innocent.