Innocence Project

The Innocence Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who it claims have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.[7] The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States, between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners are innocent.[8] The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. Scheck and Neufeld 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.

For the BBC television drama, see The Innocence Project.
The Innocence Project
Formation1992 (1992)
Founder
Founded at
TypeNonprofit organization
32-0077563[1]
Legal status501(c)(3)[2]
Purpose
  • Exoneration
  • Justice reform
"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."[3]
Headquarters40 Worth Street, Suite 701
New York, NY 10013
Region
United States
Executive Director
Maddy deLone[4]
Vered Rabia[5]
AffiliationsThe Innocence Network
Revenue (2018)
$13,426,018[6]
Expenses (2018)$13,608,849[6]
Endowment$21,620,304 (2018)[6]
Employees (2017)
88[6]
Volunteers (2017)
17[6]
Websitewww.innocenceproject.org

As of November 17, 2019, the Innocence Project has worked on 189 successful DNA-based exonerations.[9]

Founding

The Innocence Project was established in the wake of a study by the United States Department of Justice and United States Senate, in conjunction with the Jewish 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.[10] The original Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Scheck and Neufeld as part of the Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City. It became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on January 28, 2003,[11] but it maintains institutional connections with Cardozo.[12] As of September 5, 2018, the executive director of the Innocence Project is Madeline deLone.[13]

The Innocence Project has become widespread as countries are using scientific data to overturn wrongful convictions and in turn freeing those wrongly convicted. One such example exists in the Republic of Ireland where in 2009 a project was set up at Griffith College Dublin.[14]

Mission

The Innocence Project focuses on cases in which DNA evidence is available to be tested or retested. DNA testing is possible in 5–10% of criminal cases.[15] Other members of the Innocence Network also help to exonerate those in whose cases DNA testing is not possible.

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.

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.[16]

In District Attorney's Office v. Osborne (2009), US 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."[17]

Overturned convictions

As of November 2019, 367 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.[9] Almost all (99%) of the wrongful convictions were males,[18] with minority groups constituting approximately 70% (61% African American and 8% Latino).[9] The National Registry of Exonerations lists 1,579 convicted defendants who were exonerated through DNA and non-DNA evidence from January 1, 1989, through April 12, 2015.[19] According to a study published in 2014, more than 4% of persons overall sentenced to death from 1973 to 2004 are probably innocent.[20] The following are examples of notable exonerations:

  • In 2003, Steven Avery was exonerated after serving 18 years in prison for a sexual assault charge.[21] After his release, he was convicted of murder.[22]
  • In 2004, Darryl Hunt was exonerated after serving ​19 1⁄2 years in prison of a life sentence for the rape and murder of a newspaper copy editor, Deborah Sykes.[23][24]
  • In 2007, after an investigation begun by the Innocence Project, James Calvin Tillman was exonerated after serving ​16 1⁄2 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. His sentence was 45 years.[25]
  • In 2014, Glenn Ford was exonerated in the murder of Isadore Newman. Ford, an African American, had been convicted by an all-white jury without any physical evidence linking him to the crime and with testimony withheld. He served 30 years on death row in Angola Prison before his release.[26]

Work

The Innocence Project originated in New York City but accepts cases from any part of the United States. 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.[7]

About 3,000 prisoners write to the Innocence Project annually, and at any given time the Innocence Project is evaluating 6,000 to 8,000 potential cases.[27]

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. 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, 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.[28]

Funding

The Innocence Project, as of June 2018, receives 55% of its funding from individual contributions, 16% from foundations, 16% from events, 8% from investments, and the remainder from corporations, Yeshiva University, and other sources.[29]

Innocence Network

The Innocence Project is a founder of the Innocence Network, an organization of law and journalism schools, and public defense offices that collaborate to help convicted felons prove their innocence.[7] 46 American states along with several other countries are a part of the network. In 2010, 29 people were exonerated worldwide from the work of the members of this organization.[30]

The Innocence Network brings together a growing number of innocence organizations from across the United States, as well as including members from other English-speaking common law countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.[31]

In South Africa, the Wits Justice Project investigates South African incarcerations. In partnership with the Wits Law Clinic, the Julia Mashele Trust, the Legal Resource 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.[32]

Causes of wrongful conviction

There are many reasons why wrongful convictions occur. The most common reason is false eyewitness identification, which played a role in more than 75% of wrongful convictions overturned by the Innocence Project. Often assumed to be incontrovertible, a growing body of evidence suggests that eyewitness identifications are unreliable.[33] Another cause for misidentification is when a "show-up" procedure occurs. This is when a suspect is shown at the scene of a crime in a poorly lit lot or in a police car. Someone might also misidentify when they learn more about the suspect; it may cause them to change their description.[34][35]

Unreliable or improper forensic science played a role in some 50% of Innocence Project cases. Scientific techniques such as bite-mark comparison, once widely used, are now known to be subjective. Many forensic science techniques also lack uniform scientific standards.[36]

In about 25% of DNA exoneration cases, innocent people were coerced into making false confessions. Many of these false confessors went on to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit (usually to avoid a harsher sentence or even the death penalty).

Government misconduct,[37] inadequate legal counsel,[38] and the improper use of informants[39] also contributed to many of the wrongful convictions since overturned by the Innocence Project.

Film
  • After Innocence (2005) is a documentary featuring the stories of eight wrongfully convicted men who were exonerated by the Innocence Project.
  • The Trials of Darryl Hunt (2006) is a documentary that relates the wrongful convictions and subsequent exoneration of Darryl Hunt.
  • Conviction (2010) is a film about the exoneration of Kenneth Waters, who was a client of the Innocence Project. Hilary Swank plays Waters' sister Betty Anne, who went to college and law school to fight for his freedom, and Sam Rockwell plays Waters. Barry Scheck is portrayed by Peter Gallagher.

Literature
  • In the non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (2006), John Grisham recounted the cases of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, who were assisted on appeal by the Innocence Project and freed by DNA evidence after being wrongfully convicted of the murder of Debra Ann Carter.
  • Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption (2009) was co-authored by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, who was sexually assaulted in 1984, and Ronald Cotton, whom she misidentified as her assailant. Cotton spent over a decade in prison before he was exonerated.

Podcasts
  • Serial Season 1 referenced the Innocence Project in episode 7 when Deirdre Enright, director of investigation for the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia School of Law, and a team of law students analyzed the case against Adnan Syed.

Stage productions
  • The Exonerated (2002) is a play by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank about six people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death but were exonerated.

Television
  • In Justice is an American television series with a similar premise.
  • Castle is an American television series; in the episode "Like Father, Like Daughter" (season 6, episode 7), the Innocence Project was mentioned, as well as Frank Henson who was wrongfully convicted in 1998 of the death of Kimberly Tolbert.
  • The Innocence Project, a BBC One drama series that aired from 2006 to 2007, is based on a UK version of the Innocence Project.[40]
  • The Innocence Project was discussed in season 2, episode 9 of The Good Wife, "Nine Hours" (December 14, 2010). Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck played himself in the episode, which was largely based on the actual Innocence Project case of Cameron Todd Willingham. Cary Agos, a recurring character on The Good Wife, is said to have worked for the Innocence Project after law school (and is a family friend of Scheck's).[41]
  • In season six of Suits, a US legal dramedy, law student and paralegal Rachel Zane takes on an Innocence Project for a man wrongfully accused of murder.
  • In season three of Riverdale, a dark reimagining of the Archie Comics universe, Veronica Lodge mentions starting a chapter of the Innocence Project to help free her boyfriend Archie Andrews from prison following being falsely convicted of murder.
  • Making a Murderer, a two-season (of 10 episodes each) documentary relating Steven Avery wrongful conviction. The episodes were released on Netflix between 2015 and 2018.
  • The Innocence Files (2020) is a series of nine documentary films based on the work of the Innocence Project, released on Netflix in April 2020.

See also

Other people exonerated who were defended by Innocence Project efforts

Notes
  1. "Charity Ratings | America's Most Independent, Assertive Charity Watchdog | CharityWatch". charitywatch.org. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  2. "Innocence Project Inc." Tax Exempt Organization Search. Internal Revenue Search. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  3. "About – Innocence Project". Innocence Project. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  4. "Staff". Innocence Project. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  5. "Board of Directors". Innocence Project. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  6. "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". [[Innocence Project. Internal Revenue Service. June 30, 2018.
  7. "About Us". Innocence Project. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  8. "How many innocent people are there in prison?". The Innocence Project. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  9. "DNA Exonerations in the United States". Innocence Project. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  10. "Facts about Wrongful Convictions >>Mistaken Eyewitness Identifications". Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project. Archived from the original on August 22, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
  11. "The Innocence Project, Inc." New York State Division of Corporations: Entity Information. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  12. "Frequently Asked Questions". Innocence Project. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  13. "Staff Directory". The Innocence Project.
  14. "The Irish Innocence Project Symposium: An International Exploration of Wrongful Conviction 80 University of Cincinnati Law Review 2011-2012". heinonline.org. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  15. "The Innocence Project". New York: Innocence Project. 2012. Archived from the original on 2010-10-15. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  16. Rosenthal, Brian (2011). "Death Penalty Moratoria". Evanston, IL: Northwestern University. Archived from the original on 2011-03-14. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  17. Lundin, Leigh (June 28, 2009). "Dark Justice". Capital Punishment. Criminal Brief.
  18. "Female DNA Exonerees Represent Only a Few of the Women Who Have Been Wrongfully Convicted Nationwide". The Innocence Project. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  19. "The National Registry of Exonerations". Michigan Law.
  20. "More than 4% of death row inmates wrongly convicted, study says". Los Angeles Times.
  21. "Steven Avery". The Innocence Project.
  22. Kertscher, Tom (March 19, 2007). "Avery found guilty of killing woman". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 18, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  23. Zerwick, Phoebe (February 6, 2004). "Hunt exonerated". Winston Salem Journal. Archived from the original on April 29, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  24. Zerwick, Phoebe (2003) "Murder, Race, Justice: The State vs. Darryl Hunt" Journal Now
  25. James Tillman – 17 Years in Prison: Innocent Archived 2010-06-27 at the Wayback Machine Innocence Project
  26. Harris, Dan; Yu, Katie; Effron, Lauren (April 18, 2015). "Exonerated Death Row Inmate Meets the Former Prosecutor Who Put Him There". Nightline. ABC. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  27. "How many people write to you each year?". The Innocence Project. Archived from the original on 2012-06-11. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  28. "How often do DNA tests prove innocence in your cases? Does testing ever prove guilt? — The Innocence Project". Innocenceproject.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-05. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  29. "Annual Report 2018" (PDF). The Innocence Project.
  30. "The Innocence Network". The Innocence Network. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  31. "Mission Statement". Innocence Network. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  32. Gordin, Jeremy (August 2009). "The Justice Project". Witwatersrand, SA: Wits Journalism Programme. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
  33. "Eyewitness Misidentification". The Innocence Project. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  34. "False Confessions". The Innocence Project. Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  35. Kassin, S.M., Drizin, S. A., Grisso, T., Gudjonsson, G.H., Leo, R.A., & Redlich, A.D. (2010). Police-induced confessions: Risk factors and recommendations. Law and Human Behavior, 34, 3-38 (Official White Paper of the American Psychology-Law Society).
  36. "Improper Forensics". The Innocence Project. Archived from the original on 2012-06-07. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  37. "Government Misconduct". The Innocence Project. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  38. "Inadequate Defense". The Innocence Project. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  39. "Informants". The Innocence Project. Archived from the original on 2015-08-14. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  40. Smallman, Etan (April 23, 2007). "The Innocence Squad". The Times. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  41. "Scheck on "The Good Wife"". The Innocence Project Blog. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
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