Shop

Investigators in this series of stories found that Massachusetts has a bad record of wrongful criminal convictions. 22 wrongful convicted people have been released in the past 22 years: the second highest number in the country. Many more innocent men and women may remain behind bars. The Boston Police Force also rightly has the reputation of being too quick to close cases and pronounce people as guilty. In some instances the innocent were exonerated, but often only after spending time in prison. After the investigation brought attention to the problem, the county appointed a task force to help prevent too many wrongful convictions in the future. One wrongful conviction was even overturned after the WFXT investigative team found evidence to prove innocence: Sammy Toro spent 23 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Also following the investigation, Massachusetts passed a bill that would compensate those who were wrongly imprisoned.