Wrongful Imprisonment and Coerced Moral Degradation

13 Cal. L. Rev. Online 17 (2022)

15 Pages Posted: 13 Apr 2022 Last revised: 1 Aug 2022

See all articles by G. Alex Sinha

G. Alex Sinha

Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University

Janani Umamaheswar

George Mason University

Date Written: March 30, 2022

Abstract

Despite the ever-growing number of exonerations in the U.S.— and the corresponding surge in scholarly interest in wrongful convictions in recent years—research on the carceral experiences of wrongfully-convicted persons remains strikingly limited. In this essay, we draw on in-depth interviews with 15 exonerated men to explore the moral dimensions of the experience of wrongful imprisonment. We argue that imprisonment entails what we refer to as “coerced moral degradation,” whereby innocent men’s self-preservation efforts in prison require them to feign being—and at times actually become— morally worse people. We argue that these findings speak to the fundamental question of what the law is for, and, further, that the coerced moral degradation that the men experienced in prison provides a compelling basis for conservative and progressive scholars to find some common ground on the moral purpose of the law.

Keywords: Wrongful imprisonment, wrongful conviction, exoneration, morality and the law, degradation, coercion, innocence, qualitative research, exoneree

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K42

Suggested Citation

Sinha, G. Alex and Umamaheswar, Janani, Wrongful Imprisonment and Coerced Moral Degradation (March 30, 2022). 13 Cal. L. Rev. Online 17 (2022), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4073840

G. Alex Sinha (Contact Author)

Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University ( email )

Hempstead, NY 11549
United States

HOME PAGE: http://alexsinha.com

Janani Umamaheswar

George Mason University ( email )

4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.jananiumamaheswar.com

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