The Organization Witness on Innocence

According to the website Ncadp.Org:

"In 2006, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that there has not been "a single case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."

We knew then, though, that innocents had been executed. So we issued a report titled “Innocent and Executed: Four Chapters in the Life of America’s Death Penalty.” In that report, we told the stories of four such men: Ruben Cantu, Carlos De Luna, Larry Griffin and Cameron Todd Willingham.

Now, the story of Cameron Todd Willingham has garnered even more national attention, thanks to a recent article, "Trial by Fire," published in the September 7th edition of the New Yorker. The reporter, David Grann, lays out the powerful story of Willingham's conviction and execution, and demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt what we have known all along: That Cameron Todd Willingham was innocent, and he was executed.

As Justice Scalia asked, we are now SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS that this man was innocent. But we need your help to get the message out.."

Innocence Project

An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to the reform of criminal justice systems to prevent future injustice. The original Innocence Project was founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld as part of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in New York City. It became an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2003, but maintains strong institutional connections with Cardozo.

In addition to working on behalf of those who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes throughout the United States, The Innocence Project performs research and advocacy related to the causes of wrongful convictions. The Innocence Project is a member of the Innocence Network, which brings together a growing number of innocence organizations from across the United States, and includes members from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

According to wikipedia, as of January 21, 2010, 249 defendants previously convicted of serious crimes in the United States had been exonerated by DNA testing. Almost all of these convictions involved some form of sexual assault and approximately 25% involved murder

Center on Wrongful Convictions

Since 1998, the Center on Wrongful Convictions has been dedicated to identifying and rectifying wrongful convictions and other serious miscarriages of justice.


Narrated by the Center's co-founder and executive director, Rob Warden, this short video highlights the Center's past accomplishments and points to the future of reform.


Video by John Maki


Footage from Laurie Feldman's documentary The Innocent, and Rob Hess and News@Northwestern.


Photo credits: Loren Santow, Jennifer Linzer, and Mary Hanlo.