From 1989 to Dec. 31, 2014, the National Registry of Exonerations tallied 1,578 exonerations in the United States, an obscene number. Black people have been exonerated in almost half of those cases — 750 — although Black people make up just 16 percent of the U.S. population, a telling number. Here are the 10 states with the most men released from prison after being wrongfully convicted, according to the NRE.
Texas, 172
The Lone Star State was behind New York going into 2014, but there were 39 people released from prison last year (16 Black men) after evidence proved they were not guilty of the crimes for which they were prosecuted — the most in the country.
New York, 169
There were 17 men exonerated in New York last year — 15 were Black (including David McCallum, above, exonerated last year after 29 years in prison after being accused of kidnapping and the murder of a 20-year-old) and two were Hispanic. One man was sentenced to eight years; the other 16 had been sentenced to no less than nine years to life in prison.
