About the Innocence Project
The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992. The project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. As a clinic, law students handle case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff.
Most of our clients are poor, forgotten, and have used up all legal avenues for relief. The hope they all have is that biological evidence from their cases still exists and can be subjected to DNA testing. All Innocence Project clients go through an extensive screening process to determine whether or not DNA testing of evidence could prove their claims of innocence. Thousands currently await our evaluation of their cases.
DNA testing has been a major factor in changing the criminal justice system. It has provided scientific proof that our system convicts and sentences innocent people — and that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events. Most importantly, DNA testing has opened a window into wrongful convictions so that we may study the causes and propose remedies that may minimize the chances that more innocent people are convicted.
As forerunners in the field of wrongful convictions, the Innocence Project has grown to become much more than the "court of last resort" for inmates who have exhausted their appeals and their means. We are a founding member of The Innocence Network, a group of law schools, journalism schools and public defender offices across the country that assists inmates trying to prove their innocence whether or not the cases involve biological evidence which can be subjected to DNA testing. We consult with legislators and law enforcement officials on the state, local, and federal level, conduct research and training, produce scholarship and propose a wide range of remedies to prevent wrongful convictions while continuing our work to free innocent inmates through the use of post-conviction DNA testing.
We hope that this site will raise awareness and concern about the failings of our criminal justice system. It is a facet of our society that eventually touches all of its citizens. The prospect of innocents languishing in prison or, worse, being put to death for crimes that they did not commit, should be intolerable to every American, regardless of race, politics, sex, origin, or creed.
Innocence Project
100 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10011
info@innocenceproject.org
212.364.5340
Now that you have read this I want to share with you some correspondonce I had with this fine group of people today.
I asked to be added to this causes mailing list awhile back when I just had to know more about the men that are getting released out of prison( after being wrongfully convicted) after doing massive amounts of time, some in their second decade. It mortifys me to think that this is really happening here in the United States. When I read of someone on death row being released due to our D.N.A. testing and you read they have been in prison for say 25 years, I personally think of my children and giving birth to them 25 years ago. I think of all the wonders of their 25 years on this earth, all the way from birth, through schooling, first kisses, proms, perhaps marriage and perhaps children of their own. To think that somebody has sat on Death Row the same amount of time, wrongfully convicted, well I cannot even express it.
The deaf ears they must have endured, the family strife. All the people they must have spoke too claiming their innocence. And ALL the people that did not listen. And then comes the Innocence Project. I could go on and on (again) about this cause but this is being written for another reason that I am getting back too."Relating it to having children that are that old is the way I look at the time frame in my own mind. It is just MY personal way."
Today I wrote this letter to the Innocence Project at 12:42 pacific daylight savings time or P.S.D.
This was in reference to a page on their sight that I was inquiring about.
"I would like to place your page (the 10 things you can do to help) page along with the links on my blogs. May I do this? I also wondered if you have buttons or banners one can place on their personal blogs to promote the innocence project. I also sent the letter from California. Being a Californian I am EXTREMELY interested with this. I blog to a lot of my friends many of whom are in California and I would love to be able to post about your posts with links and such. I want to know if it is allowable
Thank you
Allison White
I truly love what you are about and doing. God bless you."
At 12:49 P.M. I received a letter thanking me for my interest etc. This was NOT a form letter.I was so impressed.
The Cal. Senate Appropriations Committee is the letter I was referring to and I urge all Californians to send this letter as I have done.
This is a letter I received today from the Innocence project and in it is the links I am speaking of.
Dear Allison, Thank you for doing your part to ensure that all wrongfully convicted Californians receive the monetary compensation and access to the reintegrative services they need and deserve. Your voice makes a difference! Your message has been sent to:
 And visit our website for other ways to get involved today. Thanks again for taking action on behalf of the wrongfully convicted, The Innocence Project |
"I wish I had money to donate to this fine organization, but I don't, however I sure would like to think I can help out in some small way by spreading the word on my little old blog. I would love to hear from anyone that perhaps took the time to at least go to this site and read what this organization is all about."I also would like to leave you with a personal thought from me.
"What have you done in the last 5 years of YOUR life? The good, the bad, and the ugly, ALL OF IT!. What have you done? Did you graduate a school? Get married, have a child? Learn a new language? How about like me? find out you have a true passion that you never new you had?( for me woodworking)PEACE!!!
Now imagine yourself in prison for a crime you did not do for those five years? What would you have missed?"
Allison
Thanks for reading. I would love any and all comments on this subject
July 25, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I would like to know the reason that it takes so many years and so much money to have a simple DNA test done that can possibly save the life of a wrongfully convicted person? We read all the time that there are hugh numbers of people who can prove their innocence with a simple test. Has our "society" become so immune to suffering that fiarness can be overlooked? Please look at FREEPAULCORTEZ.ORG for denial of civil liberties.
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