Innocence Project

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Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that works to exonerate the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and other forms of post-conviction relief, as well as advocates for criminal justice reform to prevent future injustice.<ref name=about /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 1% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent.<ref name=grisham>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, who gained national attention in the mid-1990s as part of the "Dream Team" of lawyers who formed part of the defense in the O. J. Simpson murder case.<ref name="The Innocence Project">Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:As of, the Innocence Project has successfully overturned more than 300 convictions through DNA-based exonerations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="DNA Exonerations" /> In 2021, the Innocence Project received the biennial Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty by Cato Institute, awarded in recognition and gratitude for its work to ensure liberty and justice for all.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2022, The Innocence Project won two Webby Awards for its Happiest Moments video, winning the Best Humanitarian & Services campaign in both the brand and non-profit categories. Happiest Moments was the organization's first public service announcement, premiering in June 2021 and produced by Hayden5.<ref>Top Spot of the Week: Hayden5 Captures "Happiest Moments," First-Ever PSA For The Innocence Project at Shoot Online; by Robert Goldrich; published July 2, 2021; retrieved May 20, 2022</ref><ref>The Innocence Project's first PSA captures the ‘Happiest Moments’ at Campaign US; by Mariah Cooper; published July 6, 2021; retrieved May 20, 2022</ref>

Founding

File:Logo of The Innocence Project.svg
Logo used from 1992 to 2018

The Innocence Project was established in the wake of a study by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Senate, in conjunction with Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, which claimed that incorrect identification by eyewitnesses was a factor in over 70% of wrongful convictions.<ref name="midatlfact">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Scheck and Neufeld as part of a law clinic at Cardozo. It became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on January 28, 2003,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but it maintains institutional connections with Cardozo.<ref name="faq">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Madeline deLone was the executive director from 2004 until 2020,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> succeeded by Christina Swarns, who argues before the United States Supreme Court before joining the group, on September 8, 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Innocence Project is the headquarters of the Innocence Network, a group of nearly 70 independent innocence organizations worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> One such example exists in the Republic of Ireland where in 2009 a project was set up at Griffith College Dublin.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mission

The Innocence Project's mission is "to free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment."<ref name=about>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Innocence Project focuses exclusively on post-conviction appeals in which DNA evidence is available to be tested or retested.<ref name=submissions>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> DNA testing is possible in 5–10% of criminal cases.<ref name="5 to 10 percent">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other members of the Innocence Network also help to exonerate those in whose cases DNA testing is not possible.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In addition to working on behalf of those who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes throughout the United States, those working for the Innocence Project perform research and advocacy related to the causes of wrongful convictions.<ref name="The Innocence Project"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Some of the Innocence Project's successes have resulted in releasing people from death row. The successes of the project have fueled American opposition to the death penalty and have likely been a factor in the decision by some American states to institute moratoria on criminal executions.<ref name="Quinn signs bill">Template:Cite web</ref>

In District Attorney's Office v. Osborne (2009), U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts wrote that post-conviction challenge "poses questions to our criminal justice systems and our traditional notions of finality better left to elected officials than federal judges." In the opinion, another justice wrote that forensic science has "serious deficiencies." Roberts also said that post-conviction DNA testing risks "unnecessarily overthrowing the established system of criminal justice." Law professor Kevin Jon Heller wrote: "It might lead to a reasonably accurate one."<ref name="CB1">Template:Cite web</ref>

As of June 2018, the Innocence Project's funding sources include 55% from individual contributions, 16% from foundations, 16% from events, 8% from investments, and 5% from corporations, Yeshiva University, and other sources.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Work

The Innocence Project originated in New York City but accepts cases from other parts of the country.Template:Refn The majority of clients helped are of low socio-economic status and have used all possible legal options for justice. Many clients hope that DNA evidence will prove their innocence, as the emergence of DNA testing allows those who have been wrongly convicted of crimes to challenge their cases. The Innocence Project also works with the local, state and federal levels of law enforcement, legislators, and other programs to prevent further wrongful convictions.<ref name=about /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

All potential clients go through an extensive screening process to determine whether or not they are likely to be innocent. If they pass the process, the Innocence Project takes up their case, resources permitting. About 2,400 prisoners write to the Innocence Project annually, and at any given time the Innocence Project is evaluating 6,000 to 8,000 potential cases. In addition to their co-directors and a managing attorney, the Innocence Project has six full-time staff attorneys and nearly 300 active cases.<ref name=contact-faq>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In almost half of the cases that the Innocence Project takes on, the clients' guilt is reconfirmed by DNA testing. Of all the cases taken on by the Innocence Project so far, about 43% of clients were proven innocent, 42% were confirmed guilty, and evidence was inconclusive and not probative in 15% of cases. In about 40% of all DNA exoneration cases, law enforcement officials identified the actual perpetrator based on the same DNA test results that led to an exoneration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Overall, the Innocence Project's DNA exonerations identified several contributors of wrongful convictions, including mistaken eyewitness identifications, invalid forensic science, false confessions, informants who lied, and government misconduct.<ref> B. Garrett (2011). Convicting the Innocent. Harvard University Press.</ref>

Overturned convictions

Template:As of, 375 people previously convicted of serious crimes in the United States had been exonerated by DNA testing since 1989, 21 of whom had been sentenced to death.<ref name="DNA Exonerations">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Almost all (99%) of the wrongful convictions involved male defendants<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with minority groups making up approximately 70% (61% African American and 8% Latino).<ref name="DNA Exonerations" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The National Registry of Exonerations lists 2,939 convicted defendants who were exonerated through DNA and non-DNA evidence from January, 1989 through January, 2022 with more than 25,600 years imprisoned.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to a study published in 2014, at least 4.1% of persons overall sentenced to death from 1973 to 2004 are probably innocent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following are some examples of exonerations they helped bring about:

Innocence Network

The Innocence Project is a founding member of the Innocence Network, a coalition of independent organizations and advocates, including law schools, journalism schools, and public defense offices that collaborate to help convicted felons prove their innocence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:As of, there were 68 organizations in the network, operating in all 50 US states and 12 other countries, and had helped exonerate 625 people.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In South Africa, the Wits Justice Project investigates South African incarcerations. In partnership with the Wits Law Clinic, the Julia Mashele Trust, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC), the US Innocence Project, and the Justice Project investigate individual cases of prisoners wrongly convicted or awaiting trial.<ref name="Wits">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film

Literature

Podcasts

Television

See also

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References

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Further reading

Template:Yeshiva University Template:O. J. Simpson murder trial Template:Miscarriage of Justice

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