Over the past 21 years, since the first wrongfully convicted person was released from prison as a result of DNA testing, over 250 INNOCENT people have released from prison in the U.S. because they have been wrongfully convicted (250 total as of February 2010).

The Innocence Project provides several reasons why people are wrongfully convicted, including eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, police misconduct, prosecutorial misconduct, improper forensic science and jailhouse informants.  Reforms in these areas will lead to fewer people being wrongfully convicted, but it is not going to help the innocent people sitting in prison as you read this.

In case you're wondering, 10 wrongfully convicted people in Pennsylvania have been exonerated and released from prison.  This does not sound too bad, unless you're the person who has been sitting in prison for 20 or 30 years for something that you did not do.