From the Dallas Morning News:
After serving nearly 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Charles Allen Chatman recently became the 30th Texan since 2001 whose conviction was overturned after DNA analysis.
Even one wrongful conviction should be a shocking aberration in our system of justice, which is based on the principle that "it is better that the guilty go free than the innocent be jailed."
Like scientists probing the causes of cancer, we should examine erroneous convictions to determine the probable sources of error and isolate common factors. The results of this inquiry would give state and local governments tools to improve our criminal justice system and extend the benefits DNA testing brings to cases where genetic evidence is unavailable.
NMS Labs Chairman of the Board, Dr. Michael Rieders, PhD, is a Member of the Pennsylvania Commission's Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions. The Advisory Committee will study the underlying causes of wrongful convictions and develop recommendations to present to the Senate to reduce the possibility that innocent people will be wrongfully convicted in the future.