The National
Registry of
Exonerations
Explore data and read stories about exonerations in the United States.
Exonerations by State
Newly Published Exonerations
On October 16, 1994, the body of 26-year-old Pernell Kimplin was discovered by his mother and a co-worker in his apartment in Greenfield, Massachusetts, after he didn’t show up for his job as a horse…
On June 15, 2013, throughout the day and into the evening, Glen Cannon received several text messages that he believed were sent by his former girlfriend, Shamika Currington. Shortly after midnight…
On the morning of October 22, 1994, shots were fired at an illegal gambling club in a house on the west side of Dayton, Ohio. Arthur Farmer, who was working as the doorman at the club, was shot in…
On the evening of April 18, 2005, a maroon Ford Taurus crashed into a utility pole on Athens Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. Jermane Jackson and J. D. Smoot saw the car hit the pole and later told the…
At 7:08 a.m. on November 10, 1997, police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a house on North Judson Street and found the body of 73-year-old Essie Thomas lying on her living-room floor. …
At 7:08 a.m. on November 10, 1997, police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a house on North Judson Street and found the body of 73-year-old Essie Thomas lying on her living-room floor. …
At 7:08 a.m. on November 10, 1997, police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a house on North Judson Street and found the body of 73-year-old Essie Thomas lying on her living-room floor.Thomas’s…
In the early morning hours of June 22, 2017, 53-year-old Michael Gardner was fatally shot in his apartment on Cliff Creek Crossing Drive, in Dallas, Texas. A 911 caller reported seeing four people…
EVERY STORY COUNTS.
The Registry is a living archive of injustice. We collect, analyze, and publish comprehensive information on all known exonerations of criminal defendants in the United States.
We study the frequency and distribution of exonerations, and the causes, costs, and consequences of wrongful convictions. We make our data, research, and stories broadly accessible. Our goal is to be a resource for those who want to improve the criminal legal system and make it more accountable.
The Registry is a project of the Michigan State University College of Law, the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at the University of California—Irvine, and the University of Michigan Law School.
Dynamic Graphs
Reports
In the Press
The New York Times
Blind MagazineFalse Confessions: the Victims of American Justice (6/15/2026)
USA TodayHe spent decades in prison. How the botched murder case was uncovered. (5/19/2026)