By Dion Harrell and Michelle Feldman

On Sept. 21, 1988, I was arrested for the rape of a young woman that occurred near my home in Long Branch. Four years later, I was convicted. I spent the next four years in prison, and another 20 years on the sex offender registry. And it was all for a crime I didn’t commit.

In all, I lost 24 years of my life. Being on the registry prevented me from keeping stable employment or housing. Making matters worse, New Jersey state law prevents me from receiving compensation for most of those years, despite the state having exonerated me after DNA evidence proved my innocence.

But now, New Jersey has an opportunity to change this glitch in the criminal justice system. Assembly Bill 1037, a bill proposed by Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, would fix the state’s wrongful conviction compensation law to provide $25,000 for each year an innocent person was wrongly on the sex offender registry. It would also remove the current prohibition against providing compensation for innocent people who pleaded guilty, which was added by former Governor Chris Christie in 2013.

I’m proud to have been part of the recent launch of the New Jersey Coalition for the Wrongfully Convicted, made up of a wide range of people and groups who are pushing for the passage of A1037. In addition to the Innocence Project, this coalition includes the ACLU of New Jersey, the Hotel Trades Council, Centurion Ministries, Assemblyman Johnson, and other exonerees.

With the help of the Innocence Project, I was exonerated in 2016 and was finally removed from the sex offender registry, but I’ll never get back the years I lost at the hands of New Jersey’s criminal justice system.

Spending four years in prison was hell. But when I got out, I was far from free. My status as a registered sex offender meant I couldn’t even see my own children without another adult present. It meant that employers and landlords constantly denied me opportunities to earn wages or put a roof over my head. I wasn’t able to secure even the most basic ingredients of a normal life, and I constantly found myself broke and not sure where I would live.

“What does N.J. owe” people like me?, asks this article from Jan. 16 . What should our state government do for those us who paid such a high price for crimes we didn’t commit?

No amount of money can make up for the injustice that I suffered. But, this bill is a critical step towards recognizing the injustice that was done, and its passage would signify that New Jersey’s criminal justice system can and should do better. Even despite my years of suffering, I am committed to looking forward, not backward. I hope the State Legislature and its leadership will join me in that endeavor.

Dion Harrell is from Long Branch.

Michelle Feldman is the state campaigns director of the Innocence Project.

The NJ Coalition for the Wrongfully Convicted is a diverse coalition made up of criminal justice, civil rights, labor, and other organizations. Its members include the Innocence Project, the New Jersey ACLU, the Hotel Trades Council, Centurion Ministries, NJ exonerees, and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson. The coalition’s aim is the passage of Assembly Bill 1037/Senate Bill 1765.

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