Frontline

Burden of Innocence (2003x10)

Air date: May 01, 2003

In recent years, media headlines have trumpeted the release of more than 100 longtime inmates who have been exonerated by DNA testing. But what happens to these wrongly accused inmates after the media spotlight turns elsewhere and they must attempt to rejoin a world far different from the one they left behind? In a new one-hour documentary, FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel examines the many social, psychological, and economic challenges facing exonerated inmates, the vast majority of whom must re-enter society with no financial or transitional assistance whatsoever. The film highlights the cases of several recently exonerated inmates and the hurdles they face as they attempt to repair the damaged inflicted upon their lives. It also examines efforts to pass laws that would allow the wrongfully convicted to sue the government for compensation.