This article is one of the Prisonsucks.com Most Disturbing Criminal Justice Stories of 2005.

A Light on Justice Denied

New York Times Editorial, December 31, 2005

A harrowing postscript to official justice is taking place in Virginia, where the discovery of a forgotten generation's blood samples in old forensic files has led to modern DNA tests that have already cleared five inmates convicted of rape, with hundreds of other felony cases to be examined.

As cheering as the recognition of their innocence has been for the five, who together lost about 90 years behind bars, a sad truth is emerging about the frequency of wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system. The two latest proofs of innocence emerged from a random sampling of just 29 old rape cases from the 1970's and 80's. Back then, Mary Jane Burton, a meticulous state serologist who died six years ago, bothered to retain evidence scraps that are now proving weighty in the modern era of forensic DNA tests.

The pity is that Ms. Burton's extra step of quiet professionalism is unusual - the procedures still current in much of the nation's justice system would have led to the destruction of such evidence by now.

Faced with the startling trove of resurrected evidence, Gov. Mark Warner has done the only thing he could do in good conscience: he has ordered the state to backtrack through hundreds of past convictions that may overlap with the Burton files and to let the DNA chips fall where they may.

Commendably, Governor Warner has made Virginia the first state to begin such a sweeping review without waiting for court challenges from convicted felons.

The Virginia experience evolved from the prodding of the Innocence Project, the legal appeals group that mounts DNA-based challenges on behalf of the wrongfully convicted. The state's look back is especially relevant as forensic lab methods become a target of increasing doubt and criticism across the nation. To "Burton" a case is already a fresh term of art in Richmond, one that deserves to spread through the criminal justice system.