The Innocence Project: DNA Testing in Post-Conviction Legal Cases

The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cordozo School of Law, handles post-conviction legal cases where DNA testing has or is potentially able to provide conclusive results that exonerate imprisoned defendants. To date almost two hundred falsely imprisoned citizens have been released from their jail cells.

Many of these cases are over twenty years old; cases that were brought to trial before the advent of DNA testing capabilities. Most of the incarcerated are poor and have little options of hiring new lawyers to review their convictions. In cases where biological evidence was collected and impounded, they can only hope that biological evidence has been preserved. Thousands of hopeful defendants impatiently await their opportunity to offer conclusive evidence to prove their innocence.

Since its inception, the Innocence Project has grown exponentially from its ground roots 'Last Resort' status of the early 1990's. As of 2006, the organization is helping to create an Innocence Network, which intends to incorporate law and journalism schools and Public Defender's Offices from around the country to dedicate time helping prison inmates determine whether biological evidence exists in their cases and whether such evidence can help to exonerate them.

Throughout history, it is not uncommon to discover cases where people have been falsely imprisoned, but being able to prove it is another matter entirely. DNA testing has become a major factor in the presentation of any criminal case in the twenty-first century, which, while lessening the chances of conviction errors from occurring in the present, still leaves thousands in jail declaring their innocence.

The Innocence Project seeks to constantly raise awareness that our Justice System, while one of the best in the world, still has its weaknesses and faults. They encourage involvement from federal, state and local governments, as well as law enforcement personnel, to become actively involved in insuring that only the guilty go to jail.

Due to the technological advances of DNA testing, the rate of inmates convicted in the past and ultimately proven innocent continues to grow. Though the advent of DNA testing is a primary driving force behind the release of the innocent from incarceration, it must be remembered that it is only a method. The criminal justice system must be able to recognize that the release of a few inmates every year should be used as an example to initiate reforms that must take place within the justice system. Many inmates are left to languish in prison, despite their claims of innocence, due to the fact that biological DNA specimens aren't available in their cases, or if they were, they have long since been discarded or lost over the intervening years.

While many systems within the United States are strictly regulated, the NTSB for example, the Criminal Justice System lacks such a powerful regulating force. The Innocence Project suggests that each state should institute Innocence Commissions that would effectively monitor convictions and to investigate errors within the system.

As of 2006, several states have instituted such commissions; North Carolina was one of the first after creating a commission in 2002, followed shortly thereafter by Connecticut in 2003. Other states are in the process of considering commissions as well.

Since the year 2000, there has been a steep rise in the number of convictions that have been overturned in the advent of DNA testing, with around 25 cases in 2001 alone. Among the first 74 exonerations that were investigated several key factors were cited that led to the convictions in the first place, among them; false confessions, testimony based on informants, microscopic hair comparison matches, and greatest of all, mistaken I.D. In some cases, more than one factor led to conviction, including faulty forensic testing, police misconduct and prosecutorial misconduct. Include less than adequate defense attorney interest or input to muddy the waters still more.

Since 1992, the Innocence Project has successfully exonerated 188 people, including 14 who were sentenced to death. The non-profit organization has successfully pushed for access to post conviction DNA testing in most of the United States and improved guidelines for improving identification policies within the Department of Justice.