Researchers at the University of Michigan identified 328 criminal cases, including 73 death penalty cases, over the last 15 years in which the defendant was ultimately exonerated. The study suggested that many more innocent people are in prison today. Most of the cases studied involved murder and rape, crimes that are subjected to the most intense police investigation but that can also provide defendants with the opportunity to prove their innocence based on DNA evidence. Of the 328 cases of innocence examined by law professor Samuel R. Gross and his assistants, 199 were murder cases. While DNA evidence played a crucial role in exonerating 145 of the wrongfully convicted, and was a factor in 88% of the rape cases, researchers noted that DNA evidence is far less likely to be available to provide definitive proof of innocence in other kinds of cases. While the racial makeup of the exonerees was similar to the U.S.’s general prison population, race did seem to play a factor in the exonerations involving rape. Black men represent 29% of those in prison for rape, but they account for 65% of those exonerated of the crime. In half of those rape exonerations, the black men were falsely accused of raping white women. (New York Times, April 19, 2004) To read the full report in PDF format, Click here. See Innocence. See Race.