Innocence Project

Legal services (includes legal, intake and social work): the innocence project leverages the fact-finding science of dna testing to expose errors in the criminal justice system and to exonerate people in prison or on death row for crimes they did not commit. To determine which cases we can accept, our steadfast intake team reviews over 2000 letters annually from incarcerated people requesting investigation into their innocence claims. The team then conducts an in depth evaluation of the cases to determine whether dna testing can prove innocence and presents them to our legal team to make a final determination of which cases to accept. Once cases are accepted, our staff attorneys work with cardozo law school clinic students to investigate the cases, to find biological evidence and to gain access to post-conviction testing through agreements or court orders. When dna results prove our clients' innocence, we seek their immediate release. In ...

Science and research: the misapplication of forensic science contributed to almost half of the wrongful convictions that have been cleared through dna testing in the united states. To address this dire issue, the innocence project contracts with consultants and lobbyists to urge congress and executive agencies to support research that will validate forensic disciplines and set smart and consistent standards around their use in criminal investigations and in court. We're also working to improve forensic science oversight and review at the state level through establishment of state-based forensic science commissions. In the fiscal year ending june 30, 2018, we responded to requests from the department of justice for comments on various projects, including proposed guidance for uniform standards for testimony and reporting for latent prints. We also participated in the public comment and review process of several standards development organizations working to develop standards relating to forensic science and presented ...

Policy: the innocence project works with congress, state legislatures and courts, executive agencies, local leaders and law enforcement to pass laws, policies and rules to reveal and prevent wrongful convictions. Our policy priorities reflect the lessons learned from dna exonerations and address the contributors to wrongful convictions, which include: eyewitness misidentification, unvalidated and improper forensic science, false confessions, incentivized witnesses, government misconduct, and inadequate defense. The innocence project works to ensure fair access to post-conviction dna testing and preservation of biological evidence for testing, as well as legal mechanisms for innocent people seeking relief through new non-dna evidence. We work to implement police practice reform, from improved identification procedures to the recording of custodial interrogations. The policy department also educates system players about the human factors that affect criminal investigations, from racial and implicit bias to tunnel vision. We also advocate for laws that fairly compensate exonerated people so that ...