After Innocence( about Innocence Project video)

After Innocence( about Innocence Project video)

A Look Into After Innocence
In the United States, more than 150 people have been exonerated and freed by DNA evidence after spending decades in prison for crimes they did not commit. The aforementioned statistic was the introduction to the documentary film After Innocence, directed by Jessica Sanders. The film was an emotional heart tugging look into the struggles of life after exoneration. People being sentenced to prison from crimes they did not commit is nothing new to us but a glimpse into their lives after exoneration is. These people having spent years, some even decades, in a hostile prison environment are only to be released into a not so welcoming world of so called freedom. They must fight and strive to prove that they do belong here and that they are after all innocent. DNA evidence has and continues to bring some justice back to those so wrongly accused.
After the statistic given at the introduction to the film it moves on to a man leaving a court house. This man looks completely elated and yells “ Hallelujah, Praise God!” He had just been released from prison. The film goes on to show several other prisoners after being released, with their friends and families embracing them with warm hugs and tearful kisses. The film then transitions to a scene in New York City at the Life After Exoneration Program National Meeting. In front of a crowd of press and other spectators, a group of exonerated prisoners were telling their experiences. Some of the exonerated were telling of how thankful they were to finally be free. One exonerated man had said he believes that for each of the exonerated at that meeting there are hundreds more innocent in prison waiting to be released. The Innocence Project cofounders, Barry Schek and Peter Neufeld were also among the crowd. Both Schek and Neufeld were giving words of encouragement and one of them had said that the exonerated there that day were responsible for transforming the criminal justice system in our country....

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