Innocence Project DNA Exonerations Reveal 70% Are Black Men

Between 2000 and 2009 the Innocence Project secured over 100 DNA exonerations; ~70% were Black men. Cases included Earl Washington Jr. (Virginia, 2001, 17 years on death row) and Larry Mayes (Indiana, 2001, 21 years). The pattern documented systemic failures — false confessions, eyewitness misidentification — falling disproportionately on Black defendants.