Not all tragedies are crimes. This Women’s History Month, we’re shining a spotlight on an entire category of wrongful conviction cases, known as ‘no crime’ cases, that involve people, mostly women, erroneously prosecuted for tragic events or accidents that were no crime at all.
Women are far more likely to be wrongfully convicted for tragic accidents—or crimes that never occurred—with women who care for children being especially at risk. In fact, seventy-two percent of exonerated women were wrongfully convicted in cases where no one committed a criminal act, with 65% of those cases involving child victims (National Registry of Exonerations).
These cases often rely on suspicion—infected with racial and gender stereotypes—rather than science. And these exonerations underscore why, when a tragedy like the death of a child occurs, courts must be especially vigilant to safeguard the presumption of innocence.
Because behind every statistic is a real person whose life was devastated by false accusations and years of loss and trauma.
Finding Freedom: Nancy’s story
At the age of 21, our client, Nancy Wagner (formerly McGeoghean), was wrongfully convicted of murdering her beloved 23-month-old daughter, Sarah. Science would later reveal that Sarah had, in fact, died in a tragic accident while sleeping in her car seat at home. However, this was long before anyone knew of the dangers of accidental asphyxiation by car seat straps. Nancy chose to go to trial, trusting that the legal system would uncover the truth that she would never intentionally harm her daughter, but it took more than three decades for that to happen.
Creating Systemic Change
Stories like Nancy’s are not isolated incidents. They reveal systemic injustice and discrimination. That’s why our policy work is so vital.
Some of the most important rules of criminal law come from individual court decisions. Therefore, one of the most powerful ways we can advocate for policy change is by filing amicus briefs to help inform and shape the court decisions that impact our community and can help prevent or correct a wrongful conviction.
This month, the New England Innocence Project, in coalition with other values-aligned partners and organizations, submitted an amicus brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that outlines important research on the unreliability of the “Abusive Head Trauma” (formerly called “Shaken Baby Syndrome”) hypothesis, arguing that this unproven theory is not reliable scientific evidence and should not be able to form the basis of a conviction. Dozens of wrongful convictions prosecuted as Abusive Head Trauma/Shaken Baby Syndrome cases have been overturned, with findings that the injuries/deaths were, in fact, the tragic result of accidental or medical causes. A just decision in this individual case can create broader change across the criminal legal system, and as a result, create hope for wrongfully accused and wrongfully convicted women and caregivers in Massachusetts.
We must ensure that courts remain grounded in science and vigilant in protecting the presumption of innocence—especially in the face of tragedy. Because no one should lose decades of their life to a crime that never occurred.