The Pennsylvania Innocence Project has a four-fold mission to: (1) secure the exoneration, release from imprisonment, and restoration to society of persons who are innocent and have been wrongly convicted; (2) provide clinical training and experience to students in the fields of law, journalism, criminal justice, and forensic science; (3) collaborate with law enforcement agencies and the courts to address systemic causes of wrongful convictions; and (4) strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in Pennsylvania through public education and advocacy.
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Once fully operational, the Project will use the services of law students working through a clinical program to conduct research and investigation of applicants’ cases under the supervision of at least one law school clinical faculty member, as well as the Project’s executive director, legal director and volunteer attorneys. The Project will use an experienced panel of lawyers and others to review the analyzed cases and select those that merit actual legal representation. Volunteer attorneys from the legal community in the Philadelphia region will represent those applicants whose cases are selected by the case review panel.
As it expands, the Project anticipates participation by law students and faculty from all the accredited law schools in greater Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania, as well as students and faculty in various other disciplines, including journalism, criminal justice and forensic science whose academic focus is directly relevant to advancing the Project’s mission. At present, representatives of several Philadelphia area law schools are participating in the planning and development of the Project. |
