The cost of wrongful incarceration: A model approach to placing value on exoneration in the United States

Abstract

Background There have been 2,932 known exonerations between 1989 and 2022. Many of those exonerated have not been adequately compensated for the years of their lives lost while wrongfully incarcerated. There is no federal mandate requiring states to compensate exonerees and there is no guidance for states to determine how much exonerees should be compensated. In this study, I developed a quantitative compensation model to guide states on estimating exoneration costs to compensate exonerees and tested it using exoneration data from the National Registry of Exonerations.Methods I used a cost analysis to develop a compensation model to estimate the dollar amount states should compensate exonerees. I estimated two levels of compensation and compared what states would likely compensate exonerees for under their compensation statutes with what the compensation model predicts they should be compensated for. Results States would spend more than double the amount of compensation both on average and in total using the compensation model than they would compensating exonerees using their compensation statutes. The gap widens when increasing compensation from the minimum to a higher level of compensation. Conclusion States do not adequately compensate exonerees for wrongful incarceration. Using the proposed compensation model would provide a more consistent method for estimating costs and would allow for more comprehensive and adequate compensation than the compensation statutes allow for.