A black man named Ulysses Charles was wrongfully identified by three female rape victims in Boston as their attacker and spent 20 years in prison before being exonerated by DNA tests. In America, tragic judicial errors like this are not simply random: African Americans are much more often the victim of such mistakes than whites, and before being cleared they spend more time behind bars, according to a study released Tuesday. The case of Charles -- a native of Trinidad and Tobago who still speaks with a thick Caribbean accent and sports a gold tooth and dreadlocks -- is typical of the stereotypes and racial prejudice which, to one degree or another, leads plaintiffs, police, judges or juries to convict black men of crimes of which they are innocent, the study by the National Registry of Exonerations said.



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