In total, 156 prisoners have been either acquitted, or received pardons or commutations on the basis of possible innocence, between 1973 to 2015. Death penalty opponents often argue that this statistic shows how perilously close states have come to undertaking wrongful executions; proponents point out that the statistic refers only to those exonerated in law, and that the truly innocent may be a smaller number. Statistics likely understate the actual problem of wrongful convictions because once an execution has occurred there is often insufficient motivation and finance to keep a case open, and it becomes unlikely at that point that the miscarriage of justice will ever be exposed.
1973 మరియు 2015 మధ్య, అమాయకత్వానికి అవకాశం ఉన్నందున అమ్నీ ఖైదీలను ఎలా నిర్దోషిగా విడుదల చేశారు లేదా క్షమాభిక్షలను పొందారు లేదా వారి మరణ శిక్షలను తగ్గించారు?
156