Declared innocent at last The front page of Newsday on December 20, 2002, declaring the innocence of the Central Park Five more than 20 years after a case that drew national outrage and resulted in the teenagers each wrongfully serving between 6 and 13 years in prison. (more) Five Stories of the Wrongfully Accused Written by Tracy Grant Tracy Grant is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. She previously served as editor in chief, the first woman to hold that title. Tracy Grant Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Apr. 17, 2026 •History “It is better 100 guilty Persons should escape, than that one innocent Person should suffer.” —Benjamin Franklin, 1785 Franklin was not the first to express the principle that the wrongful imprisonment of the innocent is a worse crime than the failure to imprison the guilty. Nonetheless, it is one deeply ingrained in the collective understanding of right and wrong. And yet: there are times when crimes seem so heinous, our inherent biases are so prevailing,...

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