Innocence Ignored

The Alford plea offers freedom at a costly price. While it allows one the right to maintain innocence, a criminal conviction remains visible on their record and therefore, they are not eligible for compensation from the government. Leroy Harris took an Alford plea after serving 29 years in prison for a crime he has always maintained he didn't commit.

Those who are exonerated aren't always compensated. This episode takes a look how compensation laws vary from state to state, and how too often exonerees return to their lives after incarceration completely penniless.

Reintegration back into society after spending, at times, up to half on your life in prison is one of the biggest hurdles for exonerees. We document Gregory Counts' experience reintegrating after being falsely accused of gang rape and serving 26 years in prison.

Most people are introduced to forensic science through TV and film, and because of this we have come to see forensic techniques such as ballistics, footprint analysis, and bite mark identification as foolproof methods for solving crimes. But many forensic science techniques were not developed by scientists. They were developed in crime labs by law enforcement professionals who needed methods for testing available evidence. These techniques were often subjective, and not run through the same kind of rigorous testing of traditional science.