Welcome to the real world! Jobs come and go and income goes up and down. In prison they are able to get their GED or college education. Did any of these people take that route? All these things enter into it. Do you ever think things through? Or just have a knee jerk reaction based on feeling bad for them?
“They deserve it. And they're receiving these generous payoffs because Texas realizes that a jury in any wrongful punishment suit would likely be even more generous. Pay a little now or a lot later.”
They deserve something but lump sum payments aren't appropriate. It must be on an individual basis. When their record is expunged, there is no stigma.
wow, you think some lives are worth more than others? You aren't compensating him for lost wages, you are compensating him for spending years in a freakin PRISON for a crime he didn't commit. if someone was to come to you today and ask what would you take in exchange for spending a year in a Texas prison in general population, exposed to violence, rape, and the like, how much would you take? If you offered me $80k, i'd laugh in your face.
When their record is expunged, there is no stigma.
I fail to see what that has to do with anything. If you've been in prison for 20 years, you are totally unprepared to live in our current world.
You're kidding, right?
How does that interview go?
Q. "So, let's take a look at your resume here. Hmmm. Well, I see you don't list any job history for the last 20 years. What have you been up to?"
A. "I was in prison for rape. No no, it's cool: I was wrongfully convicted. . . . So, when do I start?"
Not true. The convicted man is always a convicted man in the mind of the public, no matter the crime. "He's that school janitor who raped and killed that little girl" is the kind of memory that can't be expunged by a judge's gavel and a "Sorry, we made a mistake. Give us two or three days ore in prison while we get the paperwork together, and then you can just mosey on outta here."
Freedom, like life itself, is God-given, and therefore has no earthly price --- but, as is proper, we can, and do, try to approximate.
“When their record is expunged, there is no stigma.”
Experienced people can spot an ex-con at fifty paces.
LOL, right. Prison must be the best place to learn. I mean, one must be so full of hope and cheer, when thrown into prison, wrongfully and for the long term.