“It's difficult to describe what it is like to serve time on death row knowing you are innocent. All you know is that what seems like an awful nightmare is now reality, a reality beyond comprehension.”
- Ray Krone, released from prison April 8, 2002
Is there anything more horrific than the execution of a human being for a crime he or she did not commit? In a nation that considers itself the standard bearer for human rights, such an outrageous “mistake” is shameful and unacceptable.
But we must recognize the unconscionable human rights abuses that have been committed against more than 100 wrongfully convicted men and women in America who have looked death in the face and lived to tell about it.
Witness to Innocence challenges the American public to grapple with the problem of a fatally flawed criminal justice system that sends innocent people to death row. Designed to shift public opinion against capital punishment, the project is an educational vehicle that plays a critical role in the anti-death penalty movement.
Witness to Innocence is spearheaded by former death row prisoners who have been exonerated and released from death rows across the United States and who are now actively engaged in the struggle to end the death penalty. These courageous witnesses bring a human face to the death penalty that no one else can. Through their compelling stories, they illuminate the unfairness and immorality of capital punishment – and in turn move citizens and public opinion more than any ordinary politician or activist can ever hope to do.