Louisiana ranks ninth among the 50 states in terms of how much compensation has been paid out to people wrongly convicted of criminal offenses since 1989, according to a new study by a legal funding company.
High Rise Financial did not respond to a request for comment about its study, but the numbers reflect data compiled by the National Registry of Exonerations, a project started by several universities that compiles and analyzes information on criminal defendants in the U.S. who have been found to be innocent of wrongdoing.
The High Rise Financial study looked at compensation paid out from states to those who have been wrongfully imprisoned for offenses since 1989. The study then compared the total compensation figure paid out by each state to the state’s population.
In Louisiana over the past 35 years, exonerated people have been paid about $14.1 million, according to the study. When that figure is compared to a state population of 4.66 million, that works out to $3.02 per citizen.
As a result of a law that took effect in July 2022, a Louisianan with a conviction that has been vacated and whose factual innocence has been proved – typically through DNA evidence – can petition for compensation at a rate of $40,000 annually, with a cap of $400,000 per case, according to the Innocence Project, a public policy group that focuses on criminal justice reform.
The Louisiana law also applies the new compensation standard to those who have been awarded compensation between Sept. 1, 2005, and July 1, 2022, as well.
In terms of average years lost due to individuals serving wrongful imprisonment since 1989, Louisiana leads the nation, according to December 2023 figures from the National Registry for Exonerations. The average years lost for those who were falsely imprisoned in Louisiana during that time period was 16.25, compared to a national average of 9.1, the registry’s numbers show.
In total, Louisiana recorded 92 exonerations during that time period with a total of 1,495 years lost to all the wrongfully incarcerated individuals.
Maurice Possley, a senior researcher for the registry, told the Louisiana Record that federal civil rights lawsuits filed by those who have been wrongfully found guilty of crimes can result in tremendous damages awards for the plaintiffs.
“How do you reduce payouts?” Possley said. “Don’t engage in misconduct and address wrongful conviction claims seriously.”
The compensation amounts can also depend on whether a state has a compensation provision for those wrongfully sentenced, he said.
“If it’s a state compensation scheme, it depends on how long the person was incarcerated,” Possley said. “And Louisiana has a tendency to sentence people to extremely long sentences, including a lot of life-without-parole sentences.”
In terms of federal civil rights awards, the longer states work to oppose such payouts, the more costly the end result will be, according to Possley. And there is also a societal cost for wrongful convictions in real crimes, he said: The real perpetrator gets away.
Reducing such costs takes concerted action by state governments, including district attorneys deploying conviction-integrity units that examine such cases, according to Possley.
“Do it right on the front end,” he said. “Adopt best practices and eyewitness identifications. Record interrogations. Don't use junk science. Have an appointment system of lawyers that’s not overburdened, underpaid and underfunded.”