Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A different way of telling a story

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

After Innocence is an eye opening look into the imperfections of the United States justice system. Without going any further I would like to remind everyone of how superior that same system is in compared to other countries in the world. I realize that means nothing to the men in this film that have been unjustly convicted of horrible crimes. It is very emotional to listen to these men tell there story and to see how their time in prison has changed them. The fact that the prosecuting lawyers or the state or someone is not responsible for some kind of reimbursement for these men after they are released is absolutely ridicules. As one man said, they had taken away the key years of his life, the years he either gains a college education or establishes a career. I do think it is extremely honorable of the prosecuting attorneys, judges and in some case prison wardens who have given heartfelt apologies to these men and I admire those men for that because I feel it can give them hope in society and it's people again. But an apology can't feed you or get you out of living under your parents roof at the age of 40. With all that said I do feel that some of theses men have turned this horrible experience into a crutch, a crutch that they lean on and use as a consistent excuse for not being able to get their life back in line even years after. People have and will always go through tribulations in there life and men are defined by what they do after that not by how much they live in the past. I understand that a lot of people may be mad at me for saying such a thing but I'm just expressing my opinion and if you didn't like that you won't like this. In a couple of these cases I honestly don't know if I buy into the innocence, as my friend pointed out, that is the point of this film, that people judge based on how the person looks or acts and not on the facts of there case. I agree with that completely and I try as hard as I can to be fair and objective, but I do feel that of all the men who have been acquitted of crimes the odds say that at least a few of them are guilty. Then with all the media attention and people in your face constantly talking about your innocence I believe that a guilty man would start to really believe his innocence. I'm not going to go into who I think and why because I don't think documentaries always represents men completely fair and I don't have all the facts, just opinions. Overall though I believe most the men are completely innocent of their crimes and I totally buy into the theory that victims can't always be accurate in their descriptions of their assailants and can be traumatized by the situation or just down right lie. So with all that a very interesting documentary that will hopefully open the eyes of people in a position to change the problems of our justice system.

I couldn't sleep, so was watching early morning TV. This film killed sleep that night.I was crying, with anger, empathy ...and remorse, because I have never done anything to highlight such miscarriages of justice.The prosecutor in Mr Dregde's case - who could not admit he got it wrong, and made him spend 3 more years in jail. A seriously stupid and blinkered man.The lack of conscience of the state and prosecutors - who did not expunge the records, and left these people with a tragic life on the outside, worse than if they had been guilty.The one prosecutor who apologised is a man of honour.Governor Ryan is a very brave man, and one of conscience - would we had more in Government! May I recommend John Grisham's book, The Innocent Man, For another tale of criminally inadequate judiciary - I don't even like him as a writer, but I was given this book, and slept less because of it.How many people rot in jail because of incompetent prosecutors and lazy investigators? Thank God for DNA - as the film said - "God's Fingerprint".I have never written to a website before - I don't like giving details for Spam senders - but this film has made me so ANGRY!!! Can anyone support the death penalty having seen such spectacular miscarriages of justice? The people not shown,on death row,whose evidence has been "lost".The lack of expungement, and thus hurdles in getting a job.The FEE to get an expungement in some states - take my life and then charge me to get it back? Compensation for lost earnings, and for monies spent on defence, should be automatic for all exonerees - in most cases, they have lost the best years of their life, and their chance to establish themselves financially, through the incompetence of the justice system. The lawyers from the Innocence Project got it right - this should be a clarion call to all of us, to reform the system.Thank you to the filmmakers for such a coherent and impressive film - and to those who helped finance it. It should be shown weekly on national TV.0

This movie introduces you to a handful of men who have been freed from long prison terms after being exonerated. As shocking and heartbreaking as this movie is, it gives no hint of the scale of the problem. While it is a powerful experience to get to know these men, I found myself urgently wondering what percentage of the prisoners who get DNA tests turn out to be innocent. A little web surfing led me to this quote from William Sessions (former director of the FBI):"In early 1988, the FBI Laboratory Division created a DNA testing lab; by year's end, testing was completed in 100 active cases. I was fully expecting the results to confirm the careful investigative and evaluative work that had gone into the decisions to prosecute these suspects. Instead, I was stunned by the results. In about 30 percent of the cases, the DNA gathered in the investigation did not match the DNA of the suspect. Fifteen years later, this rate remains virtually the same. Approximately 25 percent of DNA tests do not produce a match."Now, it would certainly be reasonable to suppose that this rate of failure of our justice system's "careful investigative and evaluative work" is a similar 25% to 30% in the rest of the cases where it hasn't been scientifically checked by DNA testing. With two million Americans in the prison system, if 25% of them are innocent, then we have 500,000 innocent Americans in jail.After Innocence is a very good film but I think its impact could be much greater if it gave some context to these seven individuals by talking, even briefly, about how many other wrongfully incarcerated Americans may be moldering away in prison. The only hint of this in the film is a shot of a bank of filing cabinets at the Innocence Project that contains thousands of requests for help – all unopened.

I just saw After Innocence at the Get Real Film Festival in Minneapolis. I too was aware of the Innocence Project - but now I am So Much more informed in regard to this important issue. I hope this film is seen widely as there are important issues needing attention...the after innocence issues. For instance, it's important that an innocent person who is exonerated receive compensation for their time. As it is they receive nothing upon release. How much is 5-10-20 years of a life worth? How does a family recoup money spent to fight for the truth? How does one rejoin society after years of imprisonment? An exonerated person also needs to have their record expunged. Altho they have their exoneration certificate, their record of jail time is still there. An exonerated person may receive no assistance with employment, no assistance with reintroduction into society upon release. I believe this is unlike the guilty, who after serving their time, receive medical coverage, monetary benefits and assistance with employment.It was so nice and so moving to meet Wilton Dedge in person after the film. For me to fully appreciate the impact of serving 20 plus years for a crime not committed is impossible. But as Wilton commented after the film, it is very important to be aware of this issue and involved -- as this could happen to anyone.