The Innocence Project : A National Litigation Organization

“The Innocence Project’s Strategic Litigation department works through the courts and the legal system to address the leading causes of wrongful conviction and prevent future injustice.”(Improve-The Innocence Project). The Innocence Project has helped so many wrongfully accused and has improved court systems, the law and support the families of the victims. The Innocence Project was started in 1992 and until this day they have shown us that they are hard working to make an impression on our

This Organisation is a non-profit Legal organisation dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustices. The Innocence Project was established in 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

DNA testing was first used in criminal prosecutions in 1985 and is now admissible in all states. (Hails, 184) Scientific and legal communities seem to universally accept the use of DNA as “good” evidence. Questions could arise regarding testing procedures. There are several testing methods that have been proven reliable and easily pass general acceptance and scientific validity tests. This is causes number of Daubert cases questioning DNA to decline. “In most cases, the tests that are used are well established and do not require a separate hearing” (Hails, 160)

The project has campaigned to expand rights of convicted and the right to undergo DNA evaluation. Some have wanted rights to utilize DNA testing because it was extremely avoid the innocence from serving time and reduce the number of convictions. They have created the organization to be sided with the suspect as they have no useful resources to proclaim their innocence and provide pro bono services and pays off all investigation and litigation costs of all

With the number of DNA exonerations growing in the recent years, wrongful convictions reveal disturbing trends and fissures in the justice system. It shows how broken the system is, and why it needs urgent fixing. According to Huff (1996), over ten thousand people are convicted wrongfully for serious crimes each year. This study established that factors leading to wrongful convictions are false eyewitnesses, a prejudiced jury, incompetent prosecutors, and suspects’ ignorance. Where DNA evidence clears a suspect, array of reasons emerge; misconduct, mistakes, to race and class factors. It is important to make DNA data available to attorneys in order to enable them mount a strong

We hear in the news about police misconduct, use of excessive force, embezzlement, but one thing I found while researching what I should write this paper on is the Wrongful convictions of innocent men and women, that spend years in prison being innocent, and there is nothing that gets done till it’s too late. Some wrongful convictions are honest mistakes, but many times law enforcement and prosecutors lose sight of the obligation of ensuring truth and justice, and are focused on their conviction rates. As with any job, they are honest people and ones that just don’t care and are corrupt, this exists in the criminal justice system. One way to prove someone is innocent now is through DNA testing, but even at all levels of a criminal investigation there could be misconduct or mishandling of evidence, which then causes the evidence to become compromised.

This Organisation is a non-profit Legal organisation dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustices. The Innocence Project was established in 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

For example, on June 25, the California Innocence Project announced that DNA testing recently exonerated a San Diego resident who was wrongfully convicted of rape. The victim in the case misidentified him as her perpetrator. Studies show that this type of mistake is common in criminal cases. When witnesses are shown a photo lineup of possible suspects, they tend to choose the one who most closely resembles the person they saw. When they look at a live police lineup, they tend to choose the person they identified in the photo lineup. During the trial, they see the

We do not now how many innocent individuals are currently imprisoned, but we have an idea of the number of people who have been exonerated of crimes for which they were convicted. The National Registry of Exonerations has identified 1491 men and women who have been exonerated from state facilities since 1989 in the United States (University of Michigan Law School, 2015). From 2005 to 2014, there was an average of 64 exonerations from state facilities per year, with exonerees serving an average of twelve years. The Innocence Project (2015), which takes cases in which DNA analysis can be used to prove a prisoner is innocent, has secured 329 post-conviction DNA exonerations and is actively working on 250-300 cases.

The Innocence Project is a non-profit organization that is used to free wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing and to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

Lawton, I would like to first say that I enjoyed reading your forum. The incident that occurred to Ayers was unfortunate. However, there are many cases that occur just like his. The Innocence Project was established to help those individuals who were falsely accused. According to Mangan (2004), “The program is an offshoot of the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit legal clinic that handles many cases in which DNA testing of evidence can conclusively prove the innocence of some prisoners” (p. 26). However, it takes more programs to help those such as Ayers who have been falsely accused. In his case, he was proved incident. However, many individuals do not have that happen and are locked up for years, if not executed. The investigators and

The Innocence Project was established in the wake of a landmark study by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Senate with help from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Schneider, 2013). This study found that there were numerous reasons why people are wrongfully convicted including, but not limited to eye witness identification, perjured testimony, improper forensic science techniques, and government misconduct (Roberts & Weathered, 2009) The original Innocence Project was founded twenty two (22) years ago as a part of the Cardoza School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City, New York (Davis, 2012). The Innocence Projects primary goal is to exonerate those whom have been convicted of a crime when there is DNA evidence available to be tested or re-tested (Mitchell, 2011). DNA testing has been possible in five (5) percent to ten (10) percent of cases since 1992 (Risinger, 2007). On the other side, other members of the Innocence Project help to exonerate those have been convicted of a crime where there is no DNA evidence to test. A goal of the Innocence Project is to conduct research on the reasons for wrongful convictions, how to fix the criminal justice system, as well as advocate for those who have been wrongfully convicted (Steiker & Steiker, 2005). The members of this organization strive to teach the world about the dangers of wrongful convictions. To date, this non-profit legal organization, has freed three hundred eighteen (318)

Improper forensics, bad lawyering, snitches, unqualified “experts,” eye witness misidentification, false confessions, and mishandled evidence are all just a few reasons for wrongful convictions in the justice system. However, the authors of Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right, discuss how DNA is a main factor into “actually innocent” people. Throughout this book we learn stories about those who were wrongfully convicted and later proven guilty for reasons such as DNA testing. While this proves to us that not everyone convicted is guilty, it points out many other errors in the criminal justice system as well.

“There have been 330 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States” (The Innocence Project, DNA Exonerations). While this number seems low, the amount shows that not using DNA evidence can lead to injustice in the form of wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project states that genetic evidence can prove that a person is innocent and that people have been proven innocent thanks to DNA testing. This statement shows that the testing of rape kits can free those blameless people from jail that were wrongly imprisoned for rape. Therefore, testing backlogged rape kits allow for many blameless people to finally have

Although DNA has been used more and more to prove those who were wrongfully convicted innocent, there have been many times when the DNA evidence had also caused the conviction such as the case of Frank Button from Canada later described. There are many excuses and causes as to why these wrongful convictions has occurred such as forced confessions, but a lot of causes have to do actually do with forensics. Especially in America, as stated by the Innocence project, 46 percent of the overall 347 DNA exonerations that they have worked on were originally convicted due to the misapplication of forensic science. There have been many cases of wrongful convictions that have been due to improper forensic science, not only in America, but all around the globe. This essay discusses both the scientists around the globe that have been caught mishandling evidence, as well as individuals around the globe that have either been wrongfully convicted due to improper forensic science, or the use of forensic science had helped to exonerate