The National
Registry of
Exonerations
Explore data and read stories about exonerations in the United States.
Exonerations by State
Newly Published Exonerations
At about 3 p.m. on December 21, 1996, 41-year-old Mario Castro pulled into the alley behind his Chicago home, returning from a hardware store where he purchased items to do some plumbing repairs.…
At about 3 p.m. on December 21, 1996, 41-year-old Mario Castro pulled into the alley behind his Chicago home, returning from a hardware store where he purchased items to do some plumbing repairs.…
In the early morning hours of June 20, 2012, two security guards working at the Pandemonium Club on East Congress Street in Detroit, Michigan were shot in the back. Thirty-eight-year-old Marcel…
On May 8, 2014, 37-year-old Chad Zurlo shot 51-year-old Steven Corcoran to death during an argument in the basement room that Zurlo and his girlfriend, Serena Vallier, rented from Corcoran on the…
On May 29, 2025, Corey Brock was exonerated of sexual assault, armed robbery and weapons charges in Oakland County, Michigan, more than 25 years after he pled guilty and was sentenced to seven to 32…
At about 1 p.m. on October 20, 2011, Yulanda Russell, a nursing instructor, had just gotten out of her 2012 Dodge Charger parked in the driveway of her home on Heyden Street in Detroit, Michigan,…
Around midday on Sunday, November 18, 2001, a young woman, J.F., returned to her apartment in Thunderbolt, Georgia, just outside Savannah, to find a man burglarizing the apartment. The burglar, who…
On the evening of August 27, 2014, 31-year-old Robert Kaiser rushed into the emergency room of Albany Hospital, in Albany, Minnesota, cradling his infant son, William Polries-Kaiser, followed by…
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
ABA Journal"Even a wrongful misdemeanor conviction can change someone’s life forever." (10/1/24)
The Associated PressIn many states, compensation for the wrongfully convicted is a hard sell.
The Hill"Marcellus Williams’s execution was a tragedy — hopefully the last of its kind." (9/27/24)