A bar set unreasonably high

Iowa's court system has not been wracked by a large number of wrongful convictions. Obviously, that's good news.

But after Erin Jordan's reporting in Sunday's Gazette, we do think it's time to take a hard look at how the state provides, or, in reality doesn't provide, wrongful conviction compensation to people who do prison time for verdicts later overturned. It's a system that seems ripe for a comprehensive review.

Iowa's 1997 law makes the wrongfully convicted eligible for up to $50 per day for their prison stay if they apply for compensation. But in nearly 17 years, only two people have received money. Roughly a dozen others were rejected.

That's because, to get compensation in Iowa, applicants with overturned criminal convictions must prove by 'clear and convincing evidence” that they did not commit the crime at issue. That's a very high legal bar that many can't clear, and arguably higher than the bar prosecutors had to clear to convict them in the first place.

It seems to us that the state could come up with a lower threshold that allows the state to compensate those who have spent considerable time in prison for a conviction built on faulty evidence or recanted testimony. Case-by-case evaluation is still needed, but forcing people released from prison with little or no resources to clear their name is an unrealistic and unfair standard. Consider the resources expended by the state to prosecute their cases and gain a conviction.

Releasing people after years behind bars with no compensation appears to be a double penalty. There's a public interest in making sure wrongly convicted Iowans can make a good transition from prison back to their interrupted lives.

Other concerns have been raised about the level of compensation in Iowa, which is low compared to other states. That can also be addressed and potentially adjusted.

But the dollar amount is a secondary issue, so long as it's nearly impossible to get any compensation at all.

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