Legislative Policy Update
Supporting changes that matter to communities we serve
In the past year, the New England Innocence Project testified in support of a number of legislative proposals that would have an impact on the people and communities we serve, including supporting exonerees upon their release from long-term incarceration, ending qualified immunity, and more.
Here are some key excerpts from testimony we gave over the past year:
Support for Wrongfully Convicted People After They Are Released from Prison
“I am here because many people believe that once a person is exonerated, they live like in fairy tales: happily ever after. The reality of life after prison, however, is anything but a fairy tale. Unfortunately, release after long periods of incarceration is like a second sentence but this one is served outside the prison walls. Few people leaving prison have the physical, social, or emotional resources and support necessary to restart their lives beyond the walls and this bill is necessary to start addressing those deficits.
In Massachusetts, an exoneree spends, on average, 15 years incarcerated before they are released. That [means they’ve missed] 15 years of marriages, births, deaths, graduations, birthdays, and all other important family events. [They’ve also missed] 15 years of proper healthcare, educational opportunities, and work experiences. Immediately upon release, the Commonwealth that wrongfully incarcerated these folks, provides nothing by way of compensation for these losses or support for re-entry into society. While it’s possible to get some financial compensation through the court, this process is lengthy and far from straightforward.
Many exonerees leave prison traumatized by their experiences behind bars. Not only have they missed the lives of their loved ones and their own lives outside the prison walls, but they have witnessed shocking and horrifying events from the confines of their cell. Technological changes outside the walls make reentry feel like time travel.
[This bill] acknowledges the devastation of incarceration, provides accountability to the Commonwealth for the lives it stole, and aids the healing process of exonerees.”
– Executive Director Radha Natarajan testifies
Learn more about how you can support exonerees upon their release through the Exoneree Network.
The Dangers of Facial Recognition Technology
“I am here because in this age of ever-changing science, the adoption of unreliable technology can lead to wrongful convictions and years of wrongful imprisonment. Facial recognition technology (FRT) is unreliable, biased, and dangerous. These three qualities make FRT incongruent with a criminal legal system that prides itself on equity and fairness. FRT has no place in a courtroom or in a police station.”
– NH Staff Attorney Cynthia Mousseau testifies
Ending Life without Parole Sentences in Massachusetts
“The New England Innocence Project supports ending mandatory life without parole sentences. So many of our clients who are in prison right now, and nearly 40 percent of exonerees, were wrongfully convicted of murder and were sentenced to life without parole. When someone is murdered, there is significant community pressure for the police to make an arrest and to get a conviction. This kind of pressure leads to shortcuts in the investigation and it leads the police and prosecution to use unreliable evidence, such as informants and junk science. So far, in Massachusetts, life without parole sentences have stolen at least 695 years away from people convicted of murders they did not commit.
I want to focus today on three reasons to give incarcerated people a CHANCE at parole after serving 25 years:
First, research shows that extreme sentences do not reduce crime rates. We know that as people age, they are rarely rearrested. In fact, the arrest rate at age 50 is only 2% and right now, 54% of people serving life without parole sentences in Massachusetts are over the age of 50. We also know that these sentences do not promote public safety because they have kept people in prison even when they were innocent.
Second, life without parole sentences disproportionately impact communities of color. While less than 10% of the state population is Black, 35% of the people serving these sentences are Black. In addition, Black people are disproportionately wrongfully convicted: in fact, 48% of exonerees in Massachusetts are Black. These statistics tell us that Black people are more likely to be wrongfully deprived of their freedom permanently without any hope for their release.
Third, life without parole sentences are extremely expensive. As people age, it becomes more costly to house and care for them even as they are less likely to commit crimes. In 2020, even with COVID-19, we spent more money on incarceration than on public health.
The proposed bill does not simply release people into the community. It merely provides a chance for them to demonstrate why it is safe to do so. This bill provides hope, sometimes the only thing innocent individuals can hold onto while incarcerated.”
– Executive Director Radha Natarajan testifies
Ending Life Without Parole Sentences in Rhode Island
“In the United States, there have been 3,096 exonerations, or cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. 34 of these innocent people were sentenced to death and 223 of them were sentenced to Life Without Parole. These wrongful convictions were the result of flaws in our criminal legal system - both mistakes and purposeful wrongdoing, including mistaken eyewitnesses, unreliable forensic evidence, and coerced confessions. And they are just the tip of the iceberg. At the New England Innocence Project we receive hundreds of letters from innocent people in prison throughout New England each year asking for our help.
It is in part due to these known wrongful convictions that support for the death penalty has declined significantly around the country in the last 30 years. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 78% of American adults believe there is some risk that an innocent person will be put to death. That risk is not mitigated by a Life Without Parole Sentence which is, at its core, a sentence to death in prison.”
– Staff Attorney Laura Carey testifies
Ending Qualified Immunity
“I am writing because the New England Innocence Project seeks to increase truth, accountability, and fairness in the criminal legal system. Qualified immunity provides unjust shelter to governmental actors who have engaged in unethical practices, which can result in the incarceration of people for crimes they did not commit, and prevent exonerees from collecting monetary compensation for the years of wrongful imprisonment they have suffered. In a criminal legal system that prides itself on equity and fairness, there is no room for doctrines that allow persons in power to behave with impunity.”
– Staff Attorney Laura Carey testifies