In March, Brooklyn prosecutors signed off on their first exoneration of the year, freeing Kenneth Windley after nearly 20 years in prison.

Such exonerations have been a proud hallmark of the Brooklyn DA’s office since its Conviction Review Unit was established in 2014. But lately, they’ve been rarer.

While the unit has exonerated as many as 10 people in a single year, it only exonerated one person in 2025.

Brooklyn is not alone in its slowdown in overturning convictions. In New York City and across the country, the number of wrongful convictions has dipped significantly in the last few years.

The National Registry of Exonerations, which collects information about exonerated people in the United States, reported just five exonerations across the five boroughs last year, the lowest total in 15 years, and a precipitous drop from the two previous years.

The trend is similarly stark nationwide, where 2025 saw the fewest exonerations since 2011, dropping by more than 60 percent after reaching a nationwide peak in 2022.