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Better Protections for Victims of Wrongful Conviction

Idea Category: Criminal Justice, Equity & Opportunity

The Georgia House of Representatives unanimously passed NewDEAL Leader Representative Scott Holcomb’s legislation to improve the process for compensating victims of wrongful conviction. Under the bill, a newly created panel of legal experts would review potential wrongful convictions and make a compensation recommendation to a House Committee, replacing the need for a House member to file a special resolution. The measure would have the state pay victims between $50,000 and $100,000 per year spent incarcerated. According to Holcomb, 38 states have a similar system in place for compensating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Clare Gilbert, Executive Director of the Georgia Innocence Project, which works to free the wrongfully convicted, praised the legislation’s passage, saying “This bill does provide some financial security for exonerees to rebuild their lives in freedom.” The legislation will now head to the Senate. Read more here.