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Innocence Project

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For the BBC television drama, see The Innocence Project.

An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to the reform of criminal justice systems to prevent future injustice.[1]

Founding

United States

The Innocence Project was established in the wake of a landmark study by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Senate, in conjunction with The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, which found that incorrect identification by eyewitnesses was a factor in over 70% of wrongful convictions.[2]

The original Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld as part of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City. It became an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2003, but maintains strong institutional connections with Cardozo.[3]

Worldwide

The Innocence Project is a member of the Innocence Network, which brings together a growing number of innocence organizations from across the United States, and includes members from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.[4]

In South Africa, the Wits Justice Project investigates South African incarcerations. In partnership with the Wits Law Clinic, the Legal Resource Centre (LRC), the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC), the Julia Mashele Trust, and the US Innocence Project, the Justice Project investigates individual cases of prisoners wrongly convicted or awaiting trial.[5]

Mission

In addition to working on behalf of those who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes throughout the United States, the Innocence Project performs research and advocacy related to the causes of wrongful convictions.

Some of the Innocence Project's successes have resulted in rescuing innocent 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 judicial executions.[citation needed]

Not everyone is enamored with the Innocence Project. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts wrote that post-conviction challenge "poses to our criminal justice systems and our traditional notions of finality better left to elected officials than federal judges," seemingly critical of the Innocence Project. In a court opinion, another justice wrote that forensic science has "serious deficiencies". Roberts expressed a fear DNA testing risks "unnecessarily overthrowing the established system of criminal justice." Law professor Kevin Jon Heller ironically concurred: "It might lead to a reasonably accurate one."[6]

Wrongful convictions

As of 23 January 2011, 266 people previously convicted of serious crimes in the United States had been exonerated by DNA testing. Almost all of these convictions involved some form of sexual assault and approximately 25% involved murder.[7]

  • In 2007, after an investigation began by The Innocence Project, James Calvin Tillman was exonerated after serving 18 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. His sentence was 45 years.
  • In December 2009, James Bain was exonerated by DNA testing for a kidnapping, burglary, and rape he did not commit. Bain's appeal had previously been denied four separate times. His 35-year imprisonment made him the longest-incarcerated victim of a wrongful conviction to be freed through DNA evidence.[8][9]
  • In June 2010, Barry Gibbs was awarded the largest civil rights settlement by the City of New York to date of $9.9 million.[10] He received an additional $1.9 million settlement from New York state in late 2009. He was wrongly convicted of the 1986 murder of Brooklyn prostitute Virginia Robertson based on coerced testimony by a witness during the investigation by NYPD detective Louis Eppolito. Gibbs' original sentence was 20 years to life for the murder, of which he served just under 19 years. Gibbs never expressed remorse for his crime to the parole board, on the grounds that he was innocent and thus had no remorse. Every two years at his review, the board denied his parole because of his lack of remorse. Gibbs was exonerated in 2006 with help from the Innocence Project. In addition, the conviction of former detective Eppolito for his sideline as a mob hit man and the change in testimony by a witness in Gibbs' case helped him.[11]
  • In September 2010, days before he was to be executed, Kevin Keith was granted clemency by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland,[12][13] thanks in part to Ohio's Innocent Project.[14][15]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "About Us". Innocence Project. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  2. ^ "Facts about Wrongful Convictions >>Mistaken Eyewitness Identifications". Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  3. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Innocence Project. Retrieved 2008-01-19. [dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Mission Statement". Innocence Network. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  5. ^ Gordin, Jeremy (2009). "The Justice Project". Witwatersrand, SA: Wits Journalism Programme. Retrieved 2011-01-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Lundin, Leigh (2009-06-28). "Dark Justice". Capital Punishment. Criminal Brief.
  7. ^ "Case Profiles". Innocence Project. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  8. ^ "US man freed by DNA evidence after 35 years in prison". BBC News. 2009-12-18. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  9. ^ "Man exonerated, freed from prison after 35 years", CNN, December 17, 2009, retrieved December 22, 2009
  10. ^ Marzulli, John; McShane, Larry. "Barry Gibbs, man framed by 'mafia cop,' gets $9.9M settlement for 18-year prison sentence". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
  11. ^ JOYCE PURNICK, "METRO MATTERS; 19 Years Late, Freedom Has A Bitter Taste", New York Times, 3 Oct 2005, accessed 14 Aug 2010
  12. ^ "An Innocent Man on Ohio's Death Row". Columbus, Ohio: KevinKeith org. 2010-09-05.
  13. ^ Driehaus, Bob (2010-09-02). "Ohio's Governor Spares Life of a Death Row Inmate". New York Times. New York. p. A13.
  14. ^ Lundin, Leigh (2010-08-29). "Death and Destruction". Capital Punishment. Criminal Brief.
  15. ^ Welsh-Huggins, Andrew (2010-09-03). "Kevin Keith: Clemency overrides unanimous parole board decision". Mansfield News Journal. Mansfield, Ohio.

Innocence Project conference in London - November 2010

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