Alameda County District Attorney's Office Civil Rights Bureau Conviction Integrity Program DNA Case Review

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office (ACDAO) serves a population of almost two million people, across 813 square miles. Over 2,000 Californians are incarcerated in state prisons based on convictions arising from Alameda County. Estimates by scholars of the likely rates of wrongful conviction vary from two to five percent, which suggests there may be hundreds of wrongfully convicted and incarcerated Californians whose cases originated from Alameda County.
A wrongful conviction in a criminal case can have a reverberating impact on entire communities. Wrongful convictions of an innocent person or wrongful acquittals of a guilty defendant can shake a community’s trust in the criminal justice system, resulting in increased apathy and cynicism, which erode public safety. These erroneous outcomes can also result in people who have caused violence to escape justice and victimize others.
ACDAO has not had sufficient resources to devote to staffing a Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). Without having solicited inquiries, the office has a backlog of eighteen cases in which review has been specifically requested and which have survived an initial case identification screening. All eighteen cases are violent felonies and twelve (67%) involve defendants serving life sentences or greater. All but one (94%) involve defendants of color. Meanwhile, there have been revelations about past practices at ACDAO and in local law enforcement agencies which suggest a compelling need to review additional categories of cases.
The Post-Conviction Testing of DNA Evidence Grant, supplementing the current resources, will allow ACDAO to establish a robust and independent CIU, initially prioritizing cases in which DNA testing may identify potential wrongful convictions and identify true perpetrators.
A CIU will serve as a bulwark against wrongful convictions, yielding many benefits: 1) restoration of public confidence by demonstrating our unwavering commitment to rectifying past errors and upholding the rule of law; 2) exoneration of the innocent: ensuring that those unjustly imprisoned are liberated; 3) identifying cases where the true perpetrators remain at large; 4) offering recommendations, analyses of sentinel events, and best practices to prevent future wrongful convictions.
In addition to funding a new attorney position at the CIU, funds will be used to hire a paralegal with the bulk of the remaining budget going towards the costs of the DNA testing itself.