What types of legal system abuses are documented here?

We document wrongful convictions, prosecutorial misconduct, forensic science fraud, judicial corruption, suspicious deaths in custody, civil asset forfeiture abuses, and systemic failures in the criminal justice system. All claims are backed by court records, forensic evidence, or investigative findings.

How does They Knew handle claims about suspicious deaths?

Claims about suspicious deaths are held to a high evidence standard. We document the factual inconsistencies, forensic questions, and institutional failures in each case without making definitive claims about causation unless the evidence supports it. Status labels clearly indicate the level of verification.

Can wrongful conviction claims be submitted by affected individuals?

Yes. Anyone can submit evidence related to potential wrongful convictions. Submissions are evaluated based on documentary evidence including trial records, forensic analysis, witness recantations, and new evidence. We work to present factual records rather than advocacy positions.

Legal & Justice Cover-Ups Proven True — 112 Documented Claims

The justice system is supposed to be the mechanism through which truth is established and accountability enforced. When that system itself becomes the instrument of cover-up, the consequences are uniquely corrosive — because there's no higher authority to appeal to within the same framework.

Wrongful convictions represent the most direct form of justice system failure. The Innocence Project has documented over 375 DNA exonerations in the United States since 1989. In these cases, people spent an average of 14 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit. The causes are systematic: eyewitness misidentification (contributing to 69% of wrongful convictions), false confessions (29%), junk science (44%), and prosecutorial misconduct (governmental misconduct was present in 54% of cases). These aren't isolated errors — they're features of a system that incentivizes convictions over accuracy.

Prosecutorial misconduct has been documented at every level of the justice system. The phenomenon of Brady violations — prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense — is so widespread that a federal judge described it as "an epidemic." A 2020 study found that prosecutorial misconduct contributed to wrongful convictions in over half of the cases examined, yet prosecutors are almost never disciplined. The structural incentive is clear: prosecutors are evaluated on conviction rates, not accuracy rates.

Forensic science fraud has contaminated thousands of cases. Annie Dookhan, a Massachusetts crime lab chemist, falsified results in an estimated 40,000 cases over nearly a decade. Fred Zain, a West Virginia state police serologist, fabricated evidence in hundreds of cases across two states. The FBI admitted in 2015 that its hair analysis unit had given flawed testimony in over 95% of the cases where analysts provided evidence, contributing to at least 32 death sentences. These weren't rogue actors — they operated within systems that lacked basic quality controls and oversight.

The treatment of Jeffrey Epstein's case exposed how wealth and connections can corrupt the justice process. The 2008 plea deal — negotiated by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta — allowed Epstein to plead guilty to state charges and serve just 13 months in a county jail with work-release privileges, despite federal investigators having identified 36 victims. The deal was made without informing the victims, violating the Crime Victims' Rights Act. Epstein's subsequent death in federal custody while on suicide watch in 2019, with surveillance cameras malfunctioning and guards falling asleep, remains a subject of legitimate questions about institutional failure versus something more deliberate.

Civil asset forfeiture — the practice of seizing property from people who haven't been convicted of a crime — has been documented as a systematic abuse by law enforcement agencies that use the proceeds to fund their operations. The Washington Post's investigation found that since 2001, police have seized over $2.5 billion in cash from people who were never charged with a crime.

These claims document the cases where the system designed to deliver justice instead delivered its opposite, and where the evidence eventually proved it.

Top Claims in Legal & Justice

Panama Papers journalist car-bombed - Malta state found responsible

DOJ wins Google search-monopoly remedies: federal court bans exclusive deals for Chrome, Gemini, and Assistant distribution

Two Pennsylvania judges received $2.8M in kickbacks for sentencing thousands of children to private juvenile detention facilities

Independent researchers now host the entire Epstein files — 3,200 videos and 597,000 PDFs on their own servers

Bayer proposes $7.25B global Roundup settlement as SCOTUS prepares to hear federal preemption case by June 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

All Legal & Justice Claims

Panama Papers journalist car-bombed - Malta state found responsible

DOJ wins Google search-monopoly remedies: federal court bans exclusive deals for Chrome, Gemini, and Assistant distribution

Two Pennsylvania judges received $2.8M in kickbacks for sentencing thousands of children to private juvenile detention facilities

Independent researchers now host the entire Epstein files — 3,200 videos and 597,000 PDFs on their own servers

Bayer proposes $7.25B global Roundup settlement as SCOTUS prepares to hear federal preemption case by June 2026

Snowden was charged under the Espionage Act which offers no 'public interest' defense — he would be prohibited from explaining why he leaked

Julian Assange faced 175 years under the Espionage Act for publishing evidence of US war crimes — charges were unprecedented for a publisher

Epstein files: victim testimony describes biting Trump because 'he disgusted her'

Oklahoma County Used Nitrogen Gas Executions Despite Knowing Torture Risk

While all eyes were on Iran, the DOJ quietly released new Epstein files implicating Trump in the assault of an underage girl

Not all the files referencing Trump and a 13-year-old got removed — they missed two of them

An NYPD officer secretly recorded his superiors ordering quota-based policing and crime stat manipulation — they committed him to a psych ward

The FBI paid an informant to drug Fred Hampton, provided a floor plan, then Chicago PD fired 99 bullets — Hampton's gun was never fired

Philadelphia police dropped a bomb from a helicopter on a residential neighborhood, killing 11 people including 5 children, and let 61 homes burn

ICE Whistleblower: A Secret Memo Lets Agents Enter American Homes Without a Warrant — Taught Verbally to Avoid a Paper Trail

Reality Winner received the longest sentence ever for an unauthorized disclosure — for leaking evidence of Russian election interference

Justice Department Concealed Evidence in Ted Stevens Corruption Case

The secret FISA court approved 99.97% of surveillance requests over 33 years — including spying on a sitting judge

The United Nations officially says the US government's Epstein file releases are 'flawed' and undermine accountability

The DEA systematically 'launders' evidence from illegal NSA surveillance by fabricating alternative explanations for how they found suspects

Police seized $68.8 billion in assets from Americans — most never charged with a crime — and it now exceeds all burglary losses combined

The FBI admitted its forensic hair analysts gave flawed testimony in 95% of cases over two decades — at least 14 defendants were executed

Federal grand juries indict at a 99.99% rate — 'a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich' — but decline to indict police officers

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking for clients who were never charged — the trial revealed systemic protection of powerful abusers

The US has a two-tier justice system: wealthy defendants receive probation for crimes that send poor defendants to prison for decades

West Memphis Three Case Built on Coerced Confessions and Flawed Evidence

DEA Created Fake Emergency to Justify Warrantless Phone Surveillance Program

New York Crime Labs Systematically Understated DNA Evidence Statistics

Brooklyn District Attorney's Office Withheld Evidence in Homicide Cases

Philadelphia Police Department Planted Evidence and Filed False Reports

Trump pardoned nursing-home owner Joseph Schwartz — and wiped out the $19M wrongful-death judgment a family had won in court

ATF Fast and Furious Operation Lost Track of Weapons to Mexican Cartels

Epstein's death statement was dated August 9 — the day before his body was officially found on August 10

FBI COINTELPRO Operations Illegally Targeted Civil Rights Leaders and Anti-War Activists

Harris County Crime Lab Hid Flawed DNA Testing That Affected Thousands

Deep dive connects Epstein, Peter Thiel, and Russian intelligence in alleged conspiracy to rig the 2016 election

Only 1 in 660 prosecutors found guilty of misconduct face any discipline — absolute immunity protects them even when they fabricate evidence

DEA Used Parallel Construction to Hide NSA Intelligence in Drug Cases

2025 Epstein files: Trump 8 flights, Musk, Thiel, 95-page contact book

Prince Andrew arrested on his 66th birthday over Epstein files — first senior royal arrest in modern history

Cook County Jail Guards Tortured Suspects to Extract False Confessions

Philadelphia Police MOVE Bombing Covered Up Excessive Force Investigation

LAPD Rampart Division Engaged in Systematic Corruption and Frame-ups

DEA Used NSA Intelligence in Drug Cases While Hiding the Source

Orange County Jailhouse Informant Program Violated Defendants' Constitutional Rights

Chicago Police Department Operated Secret Torture Site at Homan Square

FBI Crime Lab Provided False Testimony in Thousands of Cases for Decades

Leaked SCOTUS memos show Chief Justice Roberts whipping votes to kill Obama's Clean Power Plan on the shadow docket

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