Help those who may have been wrongfully convicted.

Innocent men and women can be convicted of crimes they did not commit. Wrongful convictions and serious injustices can occur. Since the advent of forensic DNA testing in the late 1980s, nearly 400  individuals wrongfully convicted in the United States have been freed or had their convictions overturned – over 20 of them from death row. Thousands more men and women have had their convictions overturned, even without DNA testing, due to the hard work of law schools, students, criminal defense attorneys, investigators, and reformers within law enforcement. These cases have helped shed light on unreliable aspects of our justice system, and injustices common to many wrongful convictions:  government misconduct and withheld evidence, junk science, the unreliability of eyewitness identifications, improperly suggestive identification methods, and coercive interrogation techniques. The Wrongful Convictions Practicum offers students a rewarding and fulfilling opportunity to help individuals who claim an unjust result after either a trial or guilty plea, and who need assistance from the legal community in investigating and developing their claims for presentation in the courts.

Students in the Practicum will engage in activities that include the following:

  • Screening convicted individuals’’ applications, client-communication, and reviewing attorneys’ files, pleadings, transcripts, and judicial decisions in the case.
  • Identifying and researching potential areas of investigation including forensic testing and witness investigation that may result in the discovery of exculpatory information or exonerative evidence.
  • Exploring issues of wrongful conviction that are broader than innocence or guilt, such as systemic failures of due process or over-policing.
  • Conducting legal research and analyzing the legal requirements for obtaining a new trial, and learning about the mechanics and strategies associated with motions for post-conviction relief in the state and federal courts.

Credits

This is designed as a one- or two-semester Practicum offering two graded credits per semester. Students can expect to meet in a weekly seminar and conduct fieldwork into wrongful convictions cases.

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