House Committee Finalizes Wrongful Conviction Compensation Proposal
In Georgia, if a person has been convicted and imprisoned for a crime and then later found innocent, there’s no standard for how the state will make it right.
But after months of meetings, a state House committee has come up with some ideas on how to standardize compensation in such cases. They’ll take the shape of a bill to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session. As heard on the radio
“This bill sets out the requirements that say this person has been wrongfully convicted and is entitled to this award,” said Columbus Democrat and House Minority Whip Carolyn Hugley, who chaired the committee.
Under the proposal, those wrongfully convicted would receive $50,000 for every year they were imprisoned, the same as the federal standard.
The individuals would be entitled to compensation for attorneys’ fees. They’d also receive 120 hours of tuition credits at any state university or technical school, though they’d still have to meet eligibility requirements.
Georgia is one of 20 states that doesn’t have a standard for how it compensates people who’ve later been found innocent, according to the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit that providers legal assistance to those who could be proven innocent through DNA testing.
In the past 15 years, the state has compensated six people, all of whom served at least a decade in prison, some more than two.
But because there is no uniform policy on what to do in such a case, the legislature has had to take up payment packages individually. Payouts have ranged from $400,000 to $1.2 million, all with different parameters in conditions.
Hugley said this bill would make the process less complicated.
“It’s a good start, but what we wanted, we could not do,” the lawmaker said.
The lawmaker said the committee wanted to avoid the legislature having to approve each compensation package, but the state constitution requires it.
The crime these individuals were accused of won’t automatically be expunged from their record, either, though that’s something Hugley said lawmakers will work on.
“I am pleased that we’re making this a slightly less political decision,” said Aimee Maxwell, head of the Georgia Innocence Project (not affiliated with the national group).
“I mean, obviously, once it gets into the legislature everything is political discussion, but at least we’re going to give the legislature some parameters.”
Hugley said she thinks there is an appetite in the Republican controlled legislature for those changes, pointing to a majority Republican presence on the five-person committee.
She says the bill may not pass this year, but she hopes it will by the end of the two-year legislative term.
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