DNA evidence continues to overtun convictions
A disturbing development in the very disturbing 1989 case of the gang rape of a New York investment banker who was out for a run in Central Park. According to this New York Times story (registration required), the five teenagers convicted of the crime may not have been responsible for the crime even though the kids had incriminated themselves with confessions.
Over the last decade, DNA testing has cleared 27 people nationwide who were convicted of crimes based on some form of confession, according to records kept by the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. In another category, Prof. Steven Drizin at the Northwestern University School of Law and Prof. Richard Leo at the University of California at Irvine have identified 130 people who falsely confessed but were cleared before trial.
One legal scholar, Paul Cassell, argues that most verified false confessions come from vulnerable segments of the population, such as people with mental disabilities.