Wrongful Conviction Compensation
A wrongful conviction compensation statute lets a person whose conviction was reversed or vacated, or who was pardoned, ask the government that prosecuted them for a set amount for each year spent in prison. This page quotes the federal statute and each state's provisions where they were read, and the calculator applies the amount per year a provision states.
It quotes the compensation laws of twenty-seven jurisdictions, read from their official code sites, with the federal statute, and it computes a figure for seventeen whose provisions state a dollar amount, and for a federal claim.
Figure the statutory amount for the time served
Pick the federal statute or a state, enter the time served, and the calculator applies the amount per year the provision states, with its words, then shows the total before the other benefits it names.
The time in prison for the conviction, as a number of years: 7.5 is seven years and six months. Which time counts (pretrial detention, a concurrent sentence) differs by statute; the words are quoted with the figure.
Leave blank or 0 if there was no death sentence. Where the provision states no separate amount, these years count at its prison amount.
The time after release that the provision counts, where it counts any; which kinds count differs by state, and the words are quoted with the figure.
Statutory amount for the time served
Choose the federal statute or a state to see the amount its provision states.
This applies the amount per year the provision states. It does not decide eligibility, apply an inflation adjustment the provision makes, add the other benefits it names, such as tuition, health care or attorney fees, or deduct an offset for a civil judgment or settlement.
What each state's wrongful imprisonment compensation law says
Pick a state to see the amount per year, any cap, the other benefits, who is eligible, the deadline to file and any offset for a civil judgment or settlement, each in the provision's own words, read from the state's official code site, with the section named.
Choose a state to see the provisions read for this page.
How wrongful conviction compensation works
The provisions quoted on this page share a pattern. A person convicted and imprisoned has the conviction reversed, vacated or set aside, or receives a pardon, and then files a claim against the state or the United States in a court or with a board the statute names. The claimant proves the facts the statute requires, which in the provisions read here go to innocence, not only to an error at trial.
For a claim that meets the statute, the provisions quoted here set the money: an amount for each year of imprisonment and, in some provisions, a separate amount for time under a sentence of death, an amount for each year on parole or a registry, or a cap on the total. The amount is set by the statute, not proved like damages in a lawsuit, though some provisions let a judge or jury set it within limits.
Each state sets its own amounts, its own proof and its own deadline, and the panel below quotes them. A statute's words decide who qualifies; this page does not.
Wrongful imprisonment compensation for a federal conviction
A person convicted of a federal offense brings the claim in the United States Court of Federal Claims, under 28 U.S.C. § 1495 and § 2513. Section 2513 says what the claimant must allege and prove, how the facts are proved, what a pardon must recite, and a limit on the damages for each 12-month period of incarceration, quoted below.
For a federal conviction the calculator applies that limit: up to $50,000.00 for each year, and up to $100,000.00 for each year under a sentence of death. The statute sets a ceiling, not a fixed award, so the figure is that ceiling for the time entered.
“The United States Court of Federal Claims shall have jurisdiction to render judgment upon any claim for damages by any person unjustly convicted of an offense against the United States and imprisoned.”
“His conviction has been reversed or set aside on the ground that he is not guilty of the offense of which he was convicted, or on new trial or rehearing he was found not guilty of such offense, as appears from the record or certificate of the court setting aside or reversing such conviction, or that he has been pardoned upon the stated ground of innocence and unjust conviction”
“He did not commit any of the acts charged or his acts, deeds, or omissions in connection with such charge constituted no offense against the United States, or any State, Territory or the District of Columbia, and he did not by misconduct or neglect cause or bring about his own prosecution.”
“Proof of the requisite facts shall be by a certificate of the court or pardon wherein such facts are alleged to appear, and other evidence thereof shall not be received.”
“No pardon or certified copy of a pardon shall be considered by the United States Court of Federal Claims unless it contains recitals that the pardon was granted after applicant had exhausted all recourse to the courts and that the time for any court to exercise its jurisdiction had expired.”
“The amount of damages awarded shall not exceed $100,000 for each 12-month period of incarceration for any plaintiff who was unjustly sentenced to death and $50,000 for each 12-month period of incarceration for any other plaintiff.”
Wrongful imprisonment compensation by state: the amount per year
The provisions read for this page state the money in different ways. For seventeen jurisdictions the calculator applies a dollar amount the provision states for each year in prison, or for each day in Iowa and Missouri, counted as 365 days a year.
In Minnesota the amount is a minimum, and the figure says at least. In Indiana it is a maximum, and the figure says up to. In Vermont the provision sets a range for each year, and the figure is that range. Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina cap the total, and the calculator applies the cap.
Delaware, Idaho, Virginia and Washington state a separate amount for time under a sentence of death, in place of the prison amount or added to it, as each provision says. Delaware, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Virginia and Washington state an amount for time on parole, probation, supervised release or a registry.
The provisions read for Arizona, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Utah and West Virginia set the money another way, by a formula on outside figures such as a median income, or by a judge or jury, and the calculator shows no figure for them and says so. Where a provision adjusts its amounts for inflation or by a later subsection, the figure uses the amount the provision states, and the result says an adjustment applies.
A wrongful conviction compensation example
Say a person served 8.5 years in prison in Hawaii on a conviction later vacated, and the claim meets the statute. The provision states $50,000.00 for each year, prorated for a partial year, so the statutory amount is $425,000.00.
The benefits the provision names, such as tuition, health care or attorney fees, come on top where they apply, and an offset for a civil judgment or settlement comes off where the provision makes one. Those differ by state and by case, and the calculator does not figure them.
Who is eligible, and the deadline to file
The provisions quoted here ask more than a reversal. They require the conviction to be reversed or vacated on a ground the statute names, or a pardon on the ground of innocence, and then proof that the person did not commit the crime, by the standard the statute sets. Some provisions bar a claim where the person caused or brought about the conviction, and some do not count time served at the same time on another sentence.
The deadline runs from a date the statute names, such as the date the conviction was vacated or the pardon granted. The panel quotes a deadline where it was read (twenty-four jurisdictions), and a late claim can be barred, so the date the clock starts matters as much as the amount.
Benefits beyond the money, and offsets
Some provisions add services or reimbursements to the money award: tuition, health care, reentry services, attorney fees, or a refund of fines and costs paid on the conviction. The panel quotes them where they were read (twenty-three jurisdictions).
Some provisions deduct what the person recovered in a civil suit or settlement over the same conviction, or require the person to repay the award from a later recovery. The panel quotes an offset where it was read (twenty-one jurisdictions). A claim under the statute and a civil rights suit can affect each other, which is a question for a lawyer before either is settled.
The records a claim rests on
Gather the order that reversed or vacated the conviction, the dismissal of the charges or the verdict on retrial, any pardon and what it recites, and any certificate or finding of innocence a court entered.
Gather the dates of custody: arrest, sentencing, each transfer and release, from the prison or jail records. Gather the dates of parole, probation, supervised release or registration, and the papers from any civil suit or settlement over the same conviction.
Talking to a lawyer about a claim
This site is not a law firm, does not refer anyone to a lawyer, and cannot say what a claim would recover. A lawyer is the person to ask whether the way the conviction ended meets the statute, which time counts, what the deadline is, and how a claim under the statute fits with a civil rights suit.
Bring the court orders, the custody dates, the provisions the panel quotes for the state, and the figure this calculator shows.