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PI.com: Bill Would Help Exonerated Inmates
The PI.com has a detailed AP report on a bill---likely to go nowhere this year given the $4.6 billion budget shortfall---that would compensate people who were wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit. "Actually innocent" former inmates---that is, people who did not commit the crimes for which they were convicted, rather than people who get off on a technicality---would receive $50,000 for every year they spent in prison, plus $50,000 for every year they spent on death row and $25,000 for every year they spent under community supervision.
Alan Northrop spent 17 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. When he was finally exonerated, he received no compensation from Washington state.
Instead, he got a six-figure child-support bill.
Rep. Tina Orwall says the episode illustrates a failure on the part of the state. She's planning to introduce legislation this week that would recompense wrongfully convicted inmates for their time behind bars, bringing Washington into line with more than half of U.S. states and the federal government. [...]
The legislation could also guarantee free tuition at state schools for the former prisoners and their children.
"Philosophically, it's a statement to the community that we acknowledge these cases exist, and when they do we're going to have safeguards in place to protect these people," [Innocence Project Northwest policy staff attorney Lara] Zarowsky said. "We need it in terms of making a statement about what our society values."
Alan Northrop spent 17 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. When he was finally exonerated, he received no compensation from Washington state.
Instead, he got a six-figure child-support bill.
Rep. Tina Orwall says the episode illustrates a failure on the part of the state. She's planning to introduce legislation this week that would recompense wrongfully convicted inmates for their time behind bars, bringing Washington into line with more than half of U.S. states and the federal government. [...]
The legislation could also guarantee free tuition at state schools for the former prisoners and their children.
"Philosophically, it's a statement to the community that we acknowledge these cases exist, and when they do we're going to have safeguards in place to protect these people," [Innocence Project Northwest policy staff attorney Lara] Zarowsky said. "We need it in terms of making a statement about what our society values."
