The Innocence project
Created | Updated Feb 7, 2002
The Innocence Project began in 1991 as a clinic for students at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N Cardozo school of law, where it was established by lawyers Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld.
Prisoners who maintain their innocence write to the Project through their lawyers and students in the law school assess each case brought to them. These cases are screened using the clinic's criteria: was identity the key issues when the case was originally tried? Was biological evidence taken? (The source is not always obvious.. skin, hair or blood - for instance in the case of the World Trade Centre bombing, saliva on the back of a postage stamp, provided DNA.)
The next problem is gaining access to the biological evidence, which is often in the posession of the same prosecutors who, having gained the conviction, are certain that they have their man (or woman).
Roughly 60% of the samples tested, exonerate the Clinic's client.
As time passes there will be fewer cases suitable for the Innocence Project. Most of its cases are old ones, prosecuted before DNA testing was common, or even available. But the question still remains, why is the justice system making so many mistakes?
One answer is that juries will often convict on astonishingly little evidence. One exonerated client,Dennis Fritz, released after 12 years in prison, was convicted despite there being no evidence linking him to the crime scene. In the case of Tim Durham, released after serving six years of a 3,220 year sentence (!) the jury ignored 11 alibi witnesses! Another problem is, that contrary to popular belief, eyewitness testimony is less than reliable.
Studies have shown that people can have trouble distinguishing between two individuals in an ethnic group other than their own.
Since 1992, 70 prisoners have been released thanks to the Innocence Project, eight of whom were on Death Row.
Sources: TIME September 13, 1999 Adam Cohen
USA Today June 6, 2000 Richard Willing.
Prisoners who maintain their innocence write to the Project through their lawyers and students in the law school assess each case brought to them. These cases are screened using the clinic's criteria: was identity the key issues when the case was originally tried? Was biological evidence taken? (The source is not always obvious.. skin, hair or blood - for instance in the case of the World Trade Centre bombing, saliva on the back of a postage stamp, provided DNA.)
The next problem is gaining access to the biological evidence, which is often in the posession of the same prosecutors who, having gained the conviction, are certain that they have their man (or woman).
Roughly 60% of the samples tested, exonerate the Clinic's client.
As time passes there will be fewer cases suitable for the Innocence Project. Most of its cases are old ones, prosecuted before DNA testing was common, or even available. But the question still remains, why is the justice system making so many mistakes?
One answer is that juries will often convict on astonishingly little evidence. One exonerated client,Dennis Fritz, released after 12 years in prison, was convicted despite there being no evidence linking him to the crime scene. In the case of Tim Durham, released after serving six years of a 3,220 year sentence (!) the jury ignored 11 alibi witnesses! Another problem is, that contrary to popular belief, eyewitness testimony is less than reliable.
Studies have shown that people can have trouble distinguishing between two individuals in an ethnic group other than their own.
Since 1992, 70 prisoners have been released thanks to the Innocence Project, eight of whom were on Death Row.
Sources: TIME September 13, 1999 Adam Cohen
USA Today June 6, 2000 Richard Willing.
