This list of wrongful convictions in the United States includes people who have been legally exonerated, including people whose convictions have been overturned or vacated, and who have not been retried because the charges were dismissed by the states. It also includes some historic cases of people who have not been formally exonerated by a formal process such as has existed in the United States since the mid 20th century but who historians believe are factually innocent.
Crime descriptions marked with an asterisk indicate that the events were later determined not to be criminal acts. People who were wrongfully accused are sometimes never released. By August , a total of 3, exonerations were mentioned in the National Registry of Exonerations.
The total time these exonerated people spent in prison adds up to 31, years. Detailed data from regarding every known exoneration in the United States is listed. Data prior to , however, is limited. When Sheriff Shipp learned of the court's decision, he moved most prisoners to other floors of the jail and sent home all but one deputy.
Johnson was pulled from his cell by a mob of white men and hanged at the Walnut Street Bridge. Following the lynching , Shipp publicly blamed the Supreme Court's interference with local courts for Johnson's death.
The Supreme Court charged Shipp, his chief jailer, and several members of the lynch mob with contempt of court on the basis that Sheriff Shipp, with full knowledge of the court's ruling, willfully ignored his duties to protect a prisoner in his care and allowed Johnson to be lynched. United States v. Shipp is the only criminal trial of the Supreme Court in its entire history. It is considered an important decision in that it affirmed the right of the US Supreme Court to intervene in state criminal cases.
