Introduction

We hear many stories from men about their experiences being wrongfully convicted, incarcerated, and some eventually exonerated, but very rarely do people hear about women being wrongfully convicted.  According to the Prison Policy Initiative, women are the “fastest-growing group of incarcerated people” (Selby).  Why are women being forgotten when it comes to conversations about mass incarceration?  Does gender affect the incarceration and exoneration process?  Do wrongfully convicted women face different obstacles compared to wrongfully convicted men?  In this blog post, I am going to discuss wrongfully convicted women and the various obstacles they face throughout the exoneration process. 

Statistics about Female Exonerees

According to statistics from the National Registry, from 1989 to the present day, about 241 women have been fully exonerated out of 2,750 potential prisoner exonerees, which translates to only about 9% of exonerees (Selby).  Sadly, most female exonerees (about 73%) are wrongfully convicted for crimes that never happened, because they were later deemed to be accidents, suicides, or fabricated crimes (Selby).  Another important statistic from the National Registry of Exonerations states that about one-third of female exonerees were wrongfully convicted of a crime in which the victim was a child, because of these women caring for these children in the role of mother or primary caretaker.  

Factors Against Wrongfully Convicted Women

Two lawyers, Karen Daniel and Judy Royal, who worked at the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School, helped exonerate several people who were wrongfully convicted of horrible crimes (Redden).  After looking at several cases, Daniel and Royal questioned how and why not as many women were exonerated compared to men.  Daniel and Royal came to the conclusion that many innocence projects across the country are failing to bring justice to wrongfully convicted women, because of several factors that make women harder to exonerate than men.  These factors include:

1. DNA Evidence – Daniel found that women are usually not convicted of crimes that are able to be overturned due to DNA testing and evidence, which can easily prove that the wrongfully convicted person is innocent (Redden).  The majority of men are convicted of rapes and murders in which their DNA is typically found within the crime scene.  For crimes where women are accused of murdering someone close to them, their home or place of residence is a crime scene.  Because of their daily activities in the home, the female DNA is usually found throughout the crime scene and may or may not be relevant to the crime and is not helpful with the exoneration process.
2. No Crime – Daniel and Royal also discovered that in many cases where women were wrongfully convicted that there was no crime in the first place, and that the death of the victim was caused by an accident or suicide.  This creates a major problem as innocence projects are designed to help solve crimes.  When there is no DNA evidence, investigators establish alibis and turn to witnesses.  If a woman is wrongfully convicted of killing a child but it was truly an accident, then there is no real crime, no murderer, no witnesses, and most likely no alibi.  This wrongful conviction will fall back on the attorneys to prove and explain incorrect prosecution, any withheld evidence, and to fill in information gaps left by the lack of witnesses.
3. Sexist Stereotypes – Many women are wrongfully convicted of harming or murdering children in which they were caring for them as a mother or caretaker.  Wrongfully convicted women face several stereotypes while on trial, including stereotypes of women’s roles as caretakers, how to be an ideal mother, and overall criticism of women based on jealousy and being emotional (McDonald).  Sometimes women’s emotions are interpreted by law enforcement and prosecutors on how they fit into the “bad mother” stereotype.  For example, prosecutors may question why the woman is not more upset about losing her child or why the woman is overly upset about the loss of her child.
4. False Confessions – Since wrongfully convicted women are occasionally dealing with the loss of a loved one, they are more likely to confess to committing the crime even though they are truly innocent.  Because many women want to help the police and discover the true murderer of their child, wrongfully convicted women may give in and make statements that could potentially be used against her later in the process.  

Analysis and Conclusion

Because of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, female exonerees struggle equally as much as their male counterparts.   The exoneration process is difficult for many women to face.  Women face several obstacles throughout prosecution that negatively impact their lives through the length of their imprisonment, and the level of difficulty to ultimately prove their innocence.  Because these factors have been seen throughout many different cases of wrongfully convicted women, I believe that investigators, prosecutors, attorneys, and innocence projects across the United States should consider them and the possibility of seeing one or more of these elements within cases.  By considering the statistics on female exonerees and the factors against wrongfully convicted women, unjust imprisonment may be preventable and innocence projects may have an easier time exonerating women in the future as well as providing the necessary resources to support them.

Works Cited

McDonald, Alexandra. “Gender Bias, Stereotypes, and Women’s Wrongful Convictions.” Ms. JD, 2022, ms-jd.org/blog/article/gender-bias-stereotypes-and-womens-wrongful-convictions. Accessed 8 Feb. 2022.

Redden, Molly. “Why Is It So Hard for Wrongfully Convicted Women to Get Justice?” Mother Jones, Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress, 2022, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/08/wrongfully-convicted-women-exonerations-innocence-project/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2022.

Selby, Daniele. “8 Facts About Incarcerated and Wrongfully Convicted Women You Should Know.” Innocence Project, 2022, innocenceproject.org/women-wrongful-conviction-incarceration-facts-iwd2020/#:~:text=Two%20hundred%20and%20forty%2Done,the%20National%20Registry%20of%20Exonerations. Accessed 8 Feb. 2022.