Our Mission

Our criminal justice is based upon the principle that every accused person is innocent until proven guilty. However, once a conviction is obtained, that presumption is turned on its head, and the case is closed. There is a very real permanence to this closure, as it is nearly impossible to overturn a conviction once judgment has been rendered. The finality of this process presumes a fairness and objective reason of procedure that is not uniformly applied. The result of this false premise is a criminal justice system that sacrifices the lives of innocent people for the hope of a principle, even in the face of system’s own failures. As a result, the system turns a blind eye to its failures and quiets the wrongfully convicted with impossible procedural hurdles that ensures their silence.

The Commission was founded as a means of addressing some of the distinct failures of the criminal justice system that allow for innocent people to be convicted in the courts and silenced without redress. The Commission combines the legal principles exemplified by international models of innocence commissions with the power of discovery, investigation, scientific review, expert witness analysis and general legal support and representation.

Many of the cases that the Commission handles are cases that cannot be overturned with new DNA evidence – either because it is unavailable or it is insufficient to exonerate. Instead, the Commission employs a predictive model of wrongful conviction that does not depend entirely upon DNA evidence to evaluate each case and analyze the factors that contributed to the conviction.

In addition to the hurdles that arise in the absence of definitive DNA evidence, the Commission cases also face significant hurdles due to legal and procedural impasses that prevent the cases from being presented in a narrative of innocence. In the absence of decisive DNA evidence, the Commission hopes to provide legal support to rewrite the narrative thorough investigation, legal discovery, expert witness analysis and various forms of forensic testing. The Commission will utilize these tools to promote true justice for both the victims and the wrongfully convicted, and to provide a new narrative based upon truth and integrity.