Skip to main content

Policing and Crime Workshop

Co-hosted with CLEAN - Bocconi University

Correcting racial injustice: Forensic DNA technology and the exoneration of the wrongfully convicted

Rocco d'Este (University of Sussex), joint with Noam Yuchtman


Wednesday 06 November 2024 15:00 - 16:00

ONLINE

To receive invites to online Policing and Crime Workshops, please join our mailing list for this series. Subscribe/Unsubscribe here (seminar_cepcrime).

About this event

We study the effects of laws streamlining access to post-conviction forensic DNA technology ("DNA laws"). We present a conceptual framework in which DNA laws' effects differ by race due to unequal access to non-DNA exoneration technologies. Consistent with the framework's predictions, we find that DNA laws: (i) increased DNA-based exonerations for Blacks and non-Blacks; (ii) increased total exonerations for Blacks, while non-Blacks exhibit substitution across exoneration technologies and smaller effects on total exonerations. We estimate that without DNA laws, around 100 wrongfully convicted Black Americans would have died in prison, with wrongfully convicted Blacks spending over 1,800 additional years imprisoned.


Participants are expected to adhere to the CEP Events Code of Conduct.


Directions

Policing and Crime Workshops are part of the CEP's Community Wellbeing programme and Policing and Crime Research Group.