Stories

'I'm Back:' Archdiocese Clears Fr. Pfleger Of Child Sex Abuse Claim, Returns To Ministry

Fr. Michael Pfleger has been cleared a fourth time of a child sex abuse allegation, which the Archdiocese of Chicago has deemed unfounded.

USA

She Was Absolved of a Heinous Crime. Why Won’t They Leave Her Alone?

A judge exonerated Nancy Smith, an Ohio bus driver, after she was convicted of abusing children in her care. Now, prosecutors want to reverse an order saying she was innocent.

Australia

Convicted murderer Sue Neill-Fraser can now talk to media, law centre says

The Human Rights Law Centre says a restrictive parole condition that stopped Sue Neill-Fraser from being able to claim her innocence in the media has been removed after a court challenge.

After 42 Years in Prison, Ervin Harris Is Exonerated of a Rape Conviction

A Jefferson County judge has vacated Ervin Harris’ 1974 rape conviction, finding the lone eyewitness identification against him unreliable.

Flaw in the IPP system

Offender imprisoned for extra 18 years before legal error spotted and put right

After 2 decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, man receives $6 million. Then his ex-wife who divorced him while he was inside demands a share

“It would have opened the floodgates to litigation by all exonerees’ ex-wives."

USA

'I always knew the truth': Man falsely imprisoned for 18 years exonerated of O.C. robbery

Guy Miles spent more than 18 years in prison for a 1998 Fullerton robbery he did not commit; Orange County prosecutors have now vacated the conviction after a Conviction Integrity Unit review.

USA

Opinion: Connecticut should not tax the wrongfully convicted

New Haven will pay two wrongly convicted men $15.25 million each — yet Connecticut's estate tax can still reclaim 12% of compensation the state itself paid.

False allegations

Protect Victims, Yes, But Who Protects The Falsely Accused?

A Malaysian doctor argues that after police referred a Sabah hospital sexual harassment complaint to prosecutors and the case was classified No Further Action, the accused's presumption of innocence still counts for nothing in public.

False memory and ritual abuse

The Life and Death and Life of Repressed Memories

Harvard psychologist Richard McNally and social psychologist Carol Tavris on why the discredited idea of “repressed memories” is back — in Amy Griffin's memoir and Bessel van der Kolk's bestsellers — and what the research on fragmented trauma memories actually found.