What if you were convicted of a crime and you knew you were innocent; but, no one else knew or cared once you were convicted? Worse yet, what if you were wasting away in prison for a crime you didn’t commit; while the real criminal was free to continue doing what you were accused of doing? Wouldn’t you want someone to dig until they found proof of your innocence?
Many people think that is the job of the defense attorneys of the accused; but that is unrealistic. Oh, they do their job in court to protect your rights, best way that they can…but, for the most part…once you are convicted…you are there until your time is served. They have so many people to represent…unless your case sticks in their craw and they believe in you; and, they have powerful, political connections to movers and shakers…you will sit in prison until your time is up!
What if someone dared to believe in your innocence and was willing to investigate until irrefutible proof was found that proved your innocence? That would be a gift…a miracle. That type of commitment costs money and lots of time. Most people don’t have an unending supply of wealth. By the time they have gone through the court system and paid to defend themselves…they have nothing left. Often, even family and friends have moved on with their lives…not ALWAYS…but, by the time that the person has sat in prison a few years…family and friends have been forced to go back to work, finish growing up, getting married, having children, going off to college; you get the idea…life keeps moving on.
Now imagine a miracle…a group or organization comes along that believes in you…digs to find that nugget of proof, goes to bat for you with the court; and, demands your freedom…and WINS it! Now what??? You think…well…my life was stolen from me…i should get compensated for that…but guess what…many states don’t have any laws on the books to compensate you. You are given a pittance of a few dollars and maybe a bus ticket and you are on your own. Find a job???? That’s not easy..once you put on your resume that you have been serving time during that huge gap on your resume….it is a little difficult to convince a perspective employer that you were INNOCENT! Finding a decent place to live with no money, no references, and no job; NO LUCK there either! Where is a support system?
How does something like this happen to INNOCENT people? Well, it is actually quite easy (and scary when you think about it). There is genuinely mistaken ID, there is poor evidence collection, there is a mistake made during the investigation and a cover up happens, there is corruption in the system, lack of proper DNA testing, there is false allegations, there is a lack of proof for a proper alibi, there is past history that makes you look bad (even if it isn’t true this time), you get the idea. It starts to stack up; and, put together by a skilled prosecutor who believes you are guilty; and, is under pressure to convict the person who did the crime…you can see how it could happen. Why should people care about this? What if it happened to you or someone you cared about; wouldn’t you want someone to fight for YOUR freedom? What about our over-crowded prison system…how many of them are innocent? What about all of the tax money that pays to house those who are innocent or the tax money that is spent to prosecute them?
When it happens to a GUILTY person…that is, as it should be! They SHOULD be sitting in prison; doing the time for their crimes against society. However, when an INNOCENT person is convicted; getting that conviction overturned is no easy feat. Undoing the damage to the person and their family is even harder. There is someone who cares about those types of cases and it is their mission statement, “to free the staggering numbers of innocent people who remain incarcerated and to bring substantive reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment”; according to their website. You can check them out here: http://www.innocenceproject.org/about/ They need financial donations to do the work that they do…it is important work!
Write where you are 
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