Law Commons^™

Compensating The Wrongfully Convicted: A Proposal To Make Victims Of Wrongful Incarceration Whole Again, Alanna Trivelli

Law Student Publications

Part I of this comment presents a brief overview of the current state compensation systems for those who are wrongly imprisoned, including model legislation proposed by the Innocence Project and the current shortcomings of compensation statutes across the United States. Part II discusses the principles behind compensatory damages in tort law, and the foundation and reasoning for making a victim whole again. Varying forms of relief are also discussed. Part III applies these principles of tort law to the arena of wrongful convictions to show states have a responsibility to make victims of wrongful convictions whole again. Potential problems arising …