Increasing Capacity to Investigate Non-DNA Innocence Cases

The purpose of the Wrongful Conviction Review Program is to provide high quality and efficient representation for potentially wrongfully convicted defendants in post-conviction claims of innocence. This program is funded under the FY12 BJA Wrongful Conviction Review Program, Pub. L. No. 112-55, 125 Stat. 552, 615. Post-conviction innocence claims are likely to include complex challenges to the reliability or accuracy of evidence presented at trial which fall mainly into three categories: eyewitness identification evidence; confession evidence; and forensic evidence. The goals of this initiative are to: provide quality representation to those who may have been wrongfully convicted; alleviate burdens placed on the criminal justice system through costly and prolonged post-conviction litigation; and identify, whenever possible, the actual perpetrator of the crime.

The Exoneration Initiative will utilize the FY 2012 Wrongful Conviction award to represent and exonerate wrongfully convicted inmates. The award will be used to increase the capacity to conduct in-house investigations and increase the number of cases in which the grantee can oversee field investigations by licensed private investigators, which will decrease backlogs and enable identification of cases that are viable for litigation more quickly. Funds will be used to hire a full-time staff attorney and support consultant costs for private investigations.

CA/NCF