In 2015, a record 149 people were exonerated in the U.S.

A record-breaking number of criminal exonerations occurred in the United States in 2015, including 54 in Texas.

A report released Wednesday from the National Registry of Exonerations states that out of 149 known exonerations last year, 58 of the exonerated defendants had been convicted of homicide, with five on death row. Three-quarters of those exonerations included official misconduct. The report also found that exonerated defendants served on average more than 14 years in prison, and those exonerated for drug possession often falsely confessed to a crime to avoid facing longer sentences at trial.

The National Registry of Exonerations says that more cases were reviewed in 2015 because district attorneys in places like Brooklyn, Dallas, and Houston set up integrity units to investigate cases of possible misconduct. The previous recorded high was 139 exonerations in 2014.

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