The High Cost of Wrongful Convictions in Illinois
By Jamie Bence
A new piece from the National Law Journal reports on a study out of Chicago finding the cost to the public of wrongful convictions in Illinois over the past two decades to have topped $200 million. The National Law Journal concludes:
Wrongful convictions don’t just harm those who spend time in jail for crimes they didn’t commit and their families. They also come at a hefty cost to the public, according to a study by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law and the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based good-government group.
Here are a few of the most striking statistics from the report:
- The study concluded that wrongful convictions for violent crimes in Illinois have cost taxpayers more than $214 million since 1989 (Researchers calculated the financial toll by tallying the cost of incarceration, compensation to those wrongfully convicted and civil litigation costs).
- Those wrongful convictions also resulted in people later proven innocent spending more than 900 years in prison.
- Settlement payments represented the largest portion of the bill, at nearly $160 million.
- Another $31.6 million was spent to hire private attorneys to defend the government against civil suits,
- Jail and prison costs for wrongful convictions totaled $18.5 million.
- State compensation payments came to $8.2 million.
For more of the alarming results, check out the Better Government Association’s report on their website.
