The price of wrongful conviction

An interesting NZPA article on compensation for three teenage girls jailed for a crime they did not commit.

They have been offered about $160,000 each, but their lawyer thinks it should be $1 million as Arthur Allan Thomas got. I note he did spent ten years in jail not seven months.

To be jailed as a teenager for seven months for a crime one is innocent of is an awful thing. I am not sure how one even puts a value on what compensation should apply as at that stage they wre not even earning money.

To my thinking it should be enough money to give a significant boost to quality of life, so as to make a difference. $160,000 would give around $10,000 a year extra income which is useful but not a huge amount.

If it was me, I would want more.

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