Washington Post National Weekly Edition

In recent years, DNA evidence has been used to exonerate inmates who have been wrongly convicted of murder, note the editors of the Washington Post in the following viewpoint. These exonerations prove that the criminal justice system is not fool proof and that innocent people sometimes end up in prison or on death row. Post-conviction DNA tests cannot guarantee that each innocent prisoner will eventually be acquitted, the editors point out; however, such tests do shed light on the potential for error in capital trials.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to the authors, what did Betty Anne Waters do to prove that her brother was innocent of murder"
2. In the authors’ opinion, why is Kenneth Waters lucky"
3. What reforms would help to minimize errors during...