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There have been 238 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States.
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The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in 33
states; since 2000, there have been 170 exonerations.
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17 of the 238 people exonerated through DNA served time on death row.
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The average length of time served by exonerees is 12 years. The total number of
years served is approximately 2,968.
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The average age of exonerees at the time of their wrongful convictions was 26.
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The true suspects and/or perpetrators have been identified in 103 of the DNA
exoneration cases.
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Since 1989, there have been tens of thousands of cases where prime suspects were
identified and pursued—until DNA testing (prior to conviction) proved that they
were wrongly accused.
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In more than 25 percent of cases in a National Institute of Justice study,
suspects were excluded once DNA testing was conducted during the criminal
investigation (the study, conducted in 1995, included 10,060 cases where testing
was performed by FBI labs).