California leads the nation in exonerating wrongfully convicted people, overturning 200 convictions between 1989 and 2013. But releasing innocent people is no easy task — the road to overturning a wrongful conviction is arduous and slow. Senate Bill 97 aims to change that.
Jasmin Harris works at the Innocence Center, one of the groups that makes up the California Innocence Coalition, which supported the bill.
“On average, I mean the soonest in our office that I’ve seen somebody coming home is seven years. That’s an incredible amount of time for someone to be incarcerated before they can come home, and we think this will speed that up.”
SB 97 simplifies the language that currently guides the court in wrongful conviction cases. Harris says this language creates excess litigation, which significantly slows down court proceedings. This can force innocent people to remain incarcerated for additional months and years as their cases are heard.
The bill also aims to make court proceedings more fair. It directs judges to seriously consider a prosecutor’s assertion that a person has been wrongfully convicted, and requires that wrongfully convicted people have continuous counsel throughout their case.
Democratic San Francisco Senator Scott Weiner introduced the bill. SB 97 is set to become law on January 1, 2024.
