misconviction means the erroneous conviction of a person who is not guilty of the crime of which they are convicted. It carries an Arena rating of 1477, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, misconviction ranks #66 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #407 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,629 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,943 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
Why “misconviction” is a great word
A verdict that finds an innocent person guilty of a crime they did not commit. From the English prefix mis- ("wrongly, badly") + conviction ("the act of finding a person guilty of a crime"). Unlike an acquittal, a correct declaration of innocence, or an exoneration, a belated clearing of blame, a misconviction is the original, catastrophic error. It is the gavel's fall sealing a life into a cage of lies, the bewildered stare at a mugshot that does not match the memory of the act, the quiet erosion of hope measured in sunless years; the precise moment the machinery of justice, designed to protect, becomes the instrument of its most profound betrayal.
Etymology
From mis- + conviction.
noun
- The erroneous conviction of a person who is not guilty of the crime of which they are convicted.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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