Act4Innocents Campaign & Background Information

To date, 12 people have been released from Pennsylvania prisons when DNA testing proved their innocence. These men collectively spent 139 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit. In 2 of those cases, police have identified the true perpetrator of the crime; the remainder are unsolved. Of course wrongful convictions stop at no state borders. There are 342 DNA exonerations across the nation. In 45% of these cases, the process of settling the innocence claim resulted in the identification of the true perpetrator of those crimes.

Tragically, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes committed many additional crimes while the innocent languished behind bars.  Nationwide this includes more than 60 sex assaults and 24 murders. This data probably only begins to tell the larger story of all of the crimes that were actually committed in that these were only known convictions. When we convict the wrong person, all of us are harmed.

• Making our system safer for the innocent does not mean making it easier for the guilty.

• Law enforcement agencies all over the country are voluntarily adopting measures to ensure evidence is accurate and reliable.

• The updates proposed are developed based upon principles derived from 30 years of social science research.

• It’s not a matter of blaming police or prosecutors, but adapting law enforcement and investigations to modern best practices.

• DNA exonerations are only a tip of the iceberg, as criminalists estimate that DNA is only present in 10-17% of all serious felony cases. Non-DNA cases involve the same potential for wrongful conviction—eyewitness misidentification, forensic science inaccuracies, false confessions, misuse of government informants—as DNA cases do.

We know how to ensure accuracy and reliability in our investigations.  Now is the time to make the change, to protect all of us and restore confidence in our criminal justice system.

Created in 2006 by the legislature to explore the causes of wrongful conviction and initiated by Senator Stewart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery/Bucks), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions was charged with reviewing Pennsylvania’s wrongful conviction cases and identifying the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction.  Last fall, the Committee issued a report calling for comprehensive updates to our criminal justice system to prevent the tragedy of wrongfully convicting innocent people.   Download the full report.  The day the report was released, 14 members of the 52-member body issued an Independent Report, calling the measures proposed by the Committee “roadblocks to justice … designed solely to benefit criminal defendants.”

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project, which was not part of the Advisory Committee process, issued a White Paper addressing the proposals from the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions report and the objections raised by minority dissenters.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project, which was not part of the Advisory Committee process, supports most of the Advisory Committee’s recommendations. However, in some areas, further reforms are necessary to ensure fair proceedings and to protect against wrongful convictions. Toward that end, the Project suggests additional proposals, as outlined in the White Paper.

Since the Report’s publication, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project has been working directly with law enforcement agencies to encourage the adoption of best practices in eyewitness identification procedures and recording of suspect interrogations.  While we firmly believe that voluntary adoption of these proposals by law enforcement is by far the best avenue for reform, there are other reforms which can only be accomplished through legislation such as compensating the wrongfully convicted and requiring accreditation of forensic science laboratories.

The recommendations in the Advisory Committee’s report have now been introduced as legislation in the Senate Judiciary Committee, backed by Chairman Stewart Greenleaf.  Those bills, SB 1337 and SB 1338, are before  the Senate Judiciary Committee awaiting public hearings.

Getting the word out through the available media is an important part of supporting innocence protection reforms in Pennsylvania.  There are small papers all over the Commonwealth that would support an op-ed or guest editorial where a larger publication may reject it.

• You can find your local paper and click through to the web site in this list of Pennsylvania Newspapers.

Many papers prefer on-line submissions, so check the paper’s web-site.  Here are a few that have online forms for submission:

• Harrisburg Patriot-News
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Allentown Morning Call
• State College Daily Centre Times

Op-eds are simply longer letters.  Many papers will accept op-eds submitted by readers; just call the editorial board or check on the website for their individual guidelines.  We prepared a Sample Full Op-Ed covering the major issues in the proposals for reference.  (You should choose just one area to focus on.)

After submitting a letter, follow up in a few days with a polite letter if you do not hear anything. If the letter is published, please let us know through Facebook, or by sending us an e-mail.

It is very easy to organize a letter writing event to support our efforts.    Letters can be written to papers as Letters to the Editor or Op-Eds.

Just get your group together, and get started.  Here are some materials designed to make it easy for you.  Use them as a guide in framing the issues, and drawing attention to the problems of wrongful convictions.

• 9 Easy Ways to Help Advance Pennsylvania Policy
• Points for Op-Eds and Letters
• Messaging on Policy
• Sample Full Op-Ed

As always, when writing letters in support of the reforms, do not demonize!  The Pennsylvania Innocence Project does not believe in blaming anyone for wrongful convictions; the issue is not bad actors, but unreliable methods.   Please don’t accuse individuals or groups of people of misconduct.  We want to raise awareness, not create barriers.

If you are writing Letters to the Editor, choose a paper in your home area.  Local letters are more likely to be published than out of towners.   Check out Spreading the Word: Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor, above on this site.  Follow the directions for the particular paper.

When you have your letters ready, you can submit them by mail or through electronic mail.  Snail mail is preferred, because it guarantees that the letter will actually be opened.  If submitting by e-mail, send the whole message in the body of the e-mail, not as a separate attachment (they will think it’s spam).

Keep track of to whom you send letters, and let us know at the Project office.  When you hear back, let us know that, too!

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project will work with you to put together a program for your religious institution, community group or school.  We have Power Point presentations, videos, and other interactive ways to present on issues related to wrongful convictions.

To have the Project staff help you put together an informative and interesting presentation, contact us by e-mail, or by phone at 215-204-4255.