Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.[1][6] The group cites various studies estimating that in the United States between 1% and 10% of all prisoners are innocent.[7][8][9][10] The Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld who 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.[11]
As of 2021[update], the Innocence Project has helped to successfully overturn over 300 convictions through DNA-based exonerations.[12][13] In 2021, Innocence Project received the biennial Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty by Cato Institute, awarded in recognition and gratitude for its work to ensure liberty and justice for all.[14] In March 2022, The Innocence Project won two Webby Awards for its Happiest Moments video, winning the Best Humanitarian & Services campaign in both the brand and non-profit categories. Happiest Moments was the organizations first-ever public service announcement that premiered in June 2021 and was produced by Hayden5.[15][16]
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."[1][30]
The Innocence Project focuses exclusively on post-conviction appeals in which DNA evidence is available to be tested or retested.[31][32] DNA testing is possible in 5–10% of criminal cases.[33][34] Other members of the Innocence Network also help to exonerate those in whose cases DNA testing is not possible.[35]
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.[11][36]
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.[37]
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."[38]
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 remaining 5% from corporations, Yeshiva University, and other sources.[39]
Work
The Innocence Project originated in New York City but accepts cases from other parts of the country.[40] 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.[1][41][42][43]
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, resources permitting. About 2,400 prisoners write to the Innocence Project annually, and at any given time the Innocence Project is evaluating 6,000 to 8,000 potential cases. In addition to their co-directors and a managing attorney, the Innocence Project has six full-time staff attorneys and nearly 300 active cases.[44][45]
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 so far, 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.[46][47]
Overturned convictions
As of January 2022[update], 375 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.[13][48] Almost all (99%) of the wrongful convictions were males,[49][50][51] with minority groups constituting approximately 70% (61% African American and 8% Latino).[13][52][53] The National Registry of Exonerations lists 2,939 convicted defendants who were exonerated through DNA and non-DNA evidence from January, 1989 through January, 2022 with more than 25,600 years imprisoned.[54]
According to a study published in 2014, at least 4.1% of persons overall sentenced to death from 1973 to 2004 are probably innocent.[55] The following are some examples of exonerations they helped bring about:
Steven Avery was exonerated in 2003 after serving 18 years in prison for a sexual assault charge.[56][57] After his release, he was convicted of murder.[58][59]
Cornelius Dupree was convicted of sexual assault and robbery in 1980, and exonerated by DNA evidence in 2011 by the Innocence Project.[60][61]
Douglas Echols and Samuel Scott were convicted in 1987 of sexual assault and robbery, and exonerated in 2002 by DNA evidence by the Innocence Project.[62][63]
Clarence Elkins was convicted in 1999 for rape and murder, and exonerated by DNA evidence in 2005; defended by Ohio Innocence Project.[64][65]
Ryan Ferguson was convicted in 2005 for a 2001 murder, and exonerated in 2013 because the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence and the witnesses who testified against him recanted their testimony; defended by Missouri Innocence Project.[66]
Glenn Ford was exonerated in 2014 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.[67]
Darryl Hunt was exonerated in 2004 after serving 19+1⁄2 years in prison of a life sentence for the rape and murder of a newspaper copy editor, Deborah Sykes.[68][69]
Michael Morton was convicted of murder in 1987, spent over 24 years in prison, and exonerated through DNA and withholding of evidence in 2011 with help from the Innocence Project. In 2013 his prosecutor was convicted of withholding evidence, agreed to disbarment, and spent 4 days in jail.[70]
James Calvin Tillman was exonerated in 2007 after an investigation begun by the Innocence Project, and after serving 16+1⁄2 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. His sentence was 45 years.[72][73]
Archie Williams was convicted in 1983 of sexual assault and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, but was exonerated in 2019 due to DNA evidence after over three decades in prison.[74]
Ken Wyniemko was convicted in 1994 of sexual assault, and exonerated in 2003 through DNA evidence by the Innocence Project.[75]
Michael Sutton and Kenny Phillips went out for Phillips' birthday in May 2006, they were wrongfully arrested and incarcerated for 15 years. In 2023, their attempted murder convictions were overturned and the University of Akron granted them full scholarships to earn their college degrees.[76]
Leonard Mack was exonerated of rape and gun charges after 47 years due to DNA evidence.[77][78]Mack's wrongful conviction was the longest to be vacated to due advanced DNA testing.[79]
Perry Lott served 30 years in prison for rape and burglary charges before being cleared after DNA testing.[80][81][82]
In South Africa, the Wits Justice Project investigates South African incarcerations. In partnership with the Wits Law Clinic, the Julia Mashele Trust, the Legal Resources 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.[87][88]
In popular culture
Film
After Innocence (2005) is a documentary featuring the stories of eight wrongfully convicted men who were exonerated by the Innocence Project.[89][90]
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.[91][92][93]
Serial in its first season 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.[96][97]
Television
Castle, an American television series, in the episode "Like Father, Like Daughter" (season 6, episode 7), mentioned the Innocence Project, as well as Frank Henson who was wrongfully convicted in 1998 of the death of Kimberly Tolbert.[98]
The Innocence Project was discussed in season 2, episode 9 of The Good Wife, "Nine Hours" (December 14, 2010). 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 written to have worked for the Innocence Project after law school (and is a family friend of Scheck's).[100][101][102]
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.[103]
In season three of Riverdale, a dark reimagining of the Archie Comics universe, Veronica Lodge mentions starting a chapter of the organization to help free her boyfriend Archie Andrews from prison following being falsely convicted of murder.[104]
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.[105]
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.[106][107]
Quantum Leap, in the episode "Ben Song for the Defense" the Innocence Project is mentioned after Ben, having leapt into a public defender, successfully defends a teenager wrongfully accused of killing a gang recruiter.[108][109]
^Avenue, 677 Huntington; Boston; Ma 02115 (July 19, 2016). "A Matter of Conviction". Harvard Public Health Magazine. Retrieved June 5, 2023.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^The Innocent Man (Documentary, Crime), Heather McPhaul, John Grisham, Erik Anthony Russo, Campfire, The Gernert Company, December 14, 2018, retrieved June 9, 2023((citation)): CS1 maint: others (link)
