This work is incredibly important to rooting out the racial biases that so often land people like me behind bars.
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John —
As a board member of the Innocence Project, I’m moved by all of the people who’ve joined our fight for the wrongfully convicted in recent weeks. People are seeing the link between racism and wrongful convictions and are turning to the Innocence Project. Unfortunately, I know just how racism can lead to unjust punishment.
I was just 15 years old when I was arrested along with four other teenagers in 1989 for an attack on a white woman who was jogging in New York’s Central Park. You can get a glimpse of what I, along with my co-defendants, widely known as the “Exonerated Five”, went through by watching “When They See Us” on Netflix.
Once we were arrested, the police began prolonged interrogations — many of which were without lawyers present. Eventually, after being so confused and scared during hours of questioning, we began telling the police what they wanted to hear and some of us confessed to a crime that none of us committed. And we were all convicted.
It was a horrific, traumatizing experience for all of us, but it happens far too often to Black and brown people. A lot of times, we simply don’t receive the benefit of the doubt like our white counterparts — we’re already presumed guilty. In fact, multiple studies show that police officers exhibit implicit bias and frequently hold “criminal” stereotypes of Black and Latinx people.^1
Discretionary stops, policies like “stop and frisk,” and the reality of who gets arrested are all impacted by implicit bias and lead to measurable racial disparities. Because Black communities are overpoliced, they also have higher rates of arrests. Black people are arrested at a rate that is 2.3 times higher than white people.^2
Much like in my case, the risk of wrongful conviction begins with bias in policing. It’s a system that perpetuates itself. When police are violent on the streets or use investigative methods that are infused with bias, they are rarely held accountable by the same justice system that puts so many innocent people behind bars. Often, when it’s revealed that one officer has been involved in a wrongful conviction, it’s later revealed they are involved in others. This will continue until enough of us step forward to help stop it.
The Innocence Project is committed to working on policy reforms that will address secrecy and lack of accountability around police practices, failing to give Black and Latinx communities the presumption of innocence we should all be guaranteed.
Our work on accountability is critical to identify members of law enforcement who too often put people like me in prison.
Thank you for your support,
Yusef Salaam
Innocence Project Board Member
Exonerated in 2002
P.S. Things like this aren’t possible without support from you. June 30 marks the end of our fiscal year, so if you’re able now is a good time to make a donation to support the fight for justice and help us start our next fiscal year off strong. ([link removed])
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1. Spencer, Charbonneau, and Glaser, 2016. Implicit Bias and Policing, Social and Personality Psychology Compass. See also this video ([link removed]) on implicit bias with Professor L. Song Richardson.
2. Snyder, H. N., & Mulako-Wangota, J, 2013. Arrest data analysis tool, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
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