Earlier this week, the Accurate Justice Project published a report showing that proper review of CODIS hits nationwide would allow for the correction of 20–25 wrongful convictions each year, in the process saving over $15 million in public funds annually.

The report, Innocence Overlooked: How Failures in CODIS Hit Review Are Leaving Wrongful Convictions Unaddressed and Wasting Millions in Public Funds, documents in detail how police and prosecutorial agencies across the country routinely receive CODIS hit reports that have the potential to prove an innocent person’s innocence, only for those reports to be overlooked due to inadequate procedures, leaving an innocent person to remain in prison. The report is the first detailed analysis of this problem, and the first to estimate its quantitative effects.

The report’s findings are staggering. Overturning a wrongful conviction typically takes many years and a huge resource investment. The promise that one straightforward policy fix could enable 20–25 new exonerations—and do so with unmatched efficiency—is extremely exciting. It underscores the need for action across the country to fix the procedural failings that are causing CODIS hits to currently be overlooked, and to make sure this evidence is reliably investigated and disclosed moving forward. That is precisely what the Accurate Justice Project is working to do, both through our work with law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies and through our advocacy for legislation.

While our Innocence Overlooked report focuses on the wrongful conviction impacts of overlooked CODIS hits specifically, the underutilization of forensic database evidence is of even greater magnitude than the report’s findings suggest. CODIS is not the only forensic database being underutilized. Other forensic programs, such as fingerprint matches identified by the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), or ballistics matches identified by the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN), can also help expose wrongful convictions and are similarly vulnerable to being ignored by police and prosecutors currently. Improving the use of these databases, too, would likely generate even more than the 20–25 new exonerations predicted by this report.

More than this, the effects of underutilization of forensic database evidence reach beyond wrongful convictions. Even in unsolved cold cases—where no person has been convicted—CODIS hits are being overlooked in many jurisdictions. This can leave victims without closure, while the true perpetrator avoids accountability and remains in a position to reoffend.

This important report was made possible thanks to data provided by the National Registry of Exonerations and the Georgia Innocence Project. The report is available here. For media inquiries, or other questions, please contact hdavis@accuratejustice.org.