I can’t think of a more worthy cause at the start of a new year. We’ve just signed up as a Sustaining Member of Life After Exoneration whose “mission is to address the injustice of wrongful conviction and incarceration by assisting exonerees and their family members in re-building their lives.”

The exonerated are the increasing numbers of individuals in this country who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit, and manage to win release from prison after having proven their innocence. There are approximately 400 exonerees nationwide; the Life After Exoneration Program has worked directly with over 75 exonerees. Many of the most recent exonerations have been through the use of DNA evidence, and while there has been a significant amount of attention directed at the fact of wrongful conviction in this country, few Americans realize what awaits someone who has proven their innocence.