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.