On: MythBusters Helped a Wrongly Convicted Man Prove H...

[Clent]

The United State's conviction rate is more than 75% -- You are assuming a fair outcome.

The innocent person has a 75% change of being convicted. A plea deal of the innocent isn't counted if it avoids jail time.

Better to deal with the cost and hassle of parole than being prisoner where you are legally on the same level as a slave.

[wizzwizz4 → Clent]

> The innocent person has a 75% change of being convicted.

If the conviction rate is 75%, and the percent of convictions that are innocent is 5%, wouldn't that make an innocent's conviction chance at most 30%?

Edit: I'm silly. It's at least 30%. If some of the unconvicted are guilty, the denominator of innocents is smaller.

[ummonk → wizzwizz4]

Most convictions aren’t via trial but via plea bargains. It’s fair to assume that innocent people are less likely to take a plea bargain than guilty people, so the chances of getting falsely convicted could be quite high for an innocent person going to trial.