Below are just some of the issues that contribute to wrongful convictions. Beyond representing people with claims of innocence, we work with lawmakers, coalition partners, and grassroots advocates to enact changes in the criminal justice system related to these issues.
Click on each issue to learn more:
When the prosecution illegally withholds evidence of the defendant’s innocence
When a defendant is coerced into admitting to something they did not do or when someone lies to implicate a defendant of a crime they did not do
Click on the link to learn about the life of a case after conviction
Since 1973, more than 165 people who have been sentenced to death have been exonerated. If they were not exonerated and their death sentences were imposed, our country would have killed 165 innocent people.
More than 350 people have been exonerated through DNA evidence.
When someone misidentifies a defendant as the perpetrator
When someone has a lawyer who lacks the time, experience, or professional responsibility to provide them adequate representation
When police or prosecutors engage in unethical or illegal activity to wrongfully convict someone
This relates to the need for states to preserve evidence post-conviction to prove innocence claims
Although the diagnosis has played a part in the convictions of thousands of caretakers and parents since the early ’90s, it was not reviewed by an independent scientific agency until 2016.
Those who are wrongfully convicted are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and people who are low-income—this contributes to our country’s mass incarceration of more people than any other country.