Wrongfully convicting

TIFFIN — Collectively, they served 80 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Tiffin University's undergraduate Chapter of the Ohio Innocence Project, in partnership with the undergraduate chapter of Akron University, presented a timely panel discussion focusing on systematic racism and wrongful convictions. According to Steven Hurwitz, TU professor of psychology and criminal justice, the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have sparked renewed discussions about systematic racism. "Historically, people of color have been disproportionately represented at all facets of the criminal justice system," Hurwitz said. "These racial disparities are exacerbated when we examine wrongful convictions. African-Americans are only 13 percent of the American population but they constitute 47 percent of the 1,900 innocent defendants wrongfully convicted of crimes and later exonerated." The panel featured Laurese Glover, Robert McClendon, Ru-El Sailor and Raymond Towler, all four were wrongfully convicted and freed with the help of the Ohio Innocence Project. Joining them on the panel was JaNae Powell, a former legal fellow of the OIP and Dani Jauk, professor at the University of Akron. The panel coincides with Wrongful Conviction Day on Oct. 2. According to information presented by Jauk, Black people are disproportionately affected by wrongful convictions, with 49% of Black people are of the exonerated population with 37% White, 12% Latinx and 2% of other races. Two justice systems According to Glover, race definitely played a role in his conviction. Glover is part of the East Cleveland Three who were wrongfully convicted of a murder they did not commit. Glover said the police in his case never took the time to investigate the evidence that pointed to another suspect. Glover said he was young at the time of the case and was naive of the fact that police are there to protect and serve. "I believed that everything would be straightened out in court and all would work out," Glover said. Glover spent 20 years in prison before being freed by the OIP. "This experience opened my eyes," Glover said. "I don't know how those people could sleep." Jauk said murder convictions that led to exonerations with Black defendants were 22% more likely to include police officer misconduct than those with White defendants. Sailor himself was convicted for a murder that he was not present at the scene for, but was committed by someone he knew. Due to this association, he was automatically assumed to have committed the crime by an officer who had previous dealings with Sailor. Sailor said race absolutely played a pivotal role in his conviction. He was convicted with an all white prosecutor team and mostly white jury. Sailor, who served 28-years in prison, said he was not tried by a jury of his peers or background. Black and white According to Jauk, Black exonerees spent an average of 10.7-years wrongfully incarcerated before their release, about 45% longer than White exonerees. Hurwitz said the topic of systematic racism is one that many of the School of Criminal Justice professors routinely discuss in the classroom and is built in into the content taught. "Certainly when specific events happen, we set aside time in our courses to have conversations with our students," Hurwitz said. "While we address the many different facets of systematic racism, its effects and the underlying historical, psychological and sociological causes, we also make sure to make students aware that the overwhelming majority of criminal justice and mental health practitioners are qualified professionals who do their best to provide quality services." The faculty is planning a series of campus wide conversations on these issues, he said. What is the Ohio Innocence ProjectThe only nonprofit organization in dedicated to freeing innocent people in prison and preventing wrongful convictions. To achieve this, OIP informs the public of criminal justice system flaws, works to improve the system and educates law students to be sensitive to systemic problems. Since its inception in 2003, the Ohio Innocence Project has released 30 wrongfully convicted Ohioans, who as a whole spent over 600 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.