![\"150220Ford\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/150220Ford.jpg\")
Feb. 20, 2015<\/p>\nFeb. 20, 2015<\/p>\n
\u201cExonerations, which were once exceedingly rare, have become regular features of the American justice system. The\u00a0National Registry of Exonerations<\/a>\u00a0records 1,535 exonerations nationwide (including\u00a0Bob Kelly and Dawn Wilson<\/a>)\u00a0since records began in 1989….<\/p>\n \u201cThe 125 wrongful convictions thrown out in 2014… might seem paltry compared to the estimated 1 million felony convictions per year, but the number of wrongful convictions is likely far higher. Many jurisdictions don\u2019t devote the same level of resources towards exonerations that North Carolina does (with its\u00a0Innocence Inquiry Commission<\/a>), and even then the process can be achingly slow.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a justice system that exalts due process and the presumption of innocence, any wrongful conviction represents a serious breakdown of justice. Even a handful of high-profile wrongful convictions can ripple throughout the public consciousness, undermining confidence in the system. \u2018The country is having to psychically cope with conclusive evidence that we make, with some regularity, errors in criminal trial outcomes,\u2019\u00a0 said (Mary Kelly Tate, director of the University of Richmond law school\u2019s Institute for Actual Innocence).\u201d<\/p>\n