The theme of this year’s conference, Presumption of Innocence, was chosen to highlight the fact that a presumption of innocence is not explicit in our Constitution or the Bill of Rights.  The Supreme Court read this moral imperative into these documents and so we must always remember – it can, just as easily, be read out.  Another aspect of the presumption of innocence to keep top of mind is this presumption needs to be applied at each step of the criminal justice system in order to achieve fairness and actual justice.  We were reminded there is a difference between a legal system and a justice system.  Right now, in most areas of this country, a legal system is all we have.

The opening session began with a discussion that freeing innocent people does not always mean an exoneration; some wrongfully convicted people take plea deals in order to avoid going back to trial and some are freed with prejudice (meaning they can still be tried in the future should the state decide to re-try the case).  These two situations stem from the outright refusal of some prosecuting attorneys to even consider their office could have gotten it wrong and their resolve to fight to the bitter end to maintain the illusion of absolute correctness.

During this session, awards were presented to professionals who have made significant contributions to the area of criminal justice reform.  This year’s winners were the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community and Ms. Melissa Segura.

The National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community was recognized for the 2009 report, “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward“.  This report is “the foundation upon which the Network’s policy reform and strategic litigation efforts are based.”

Ms. Segura was honored for her Buzzfeed series which exposed corruption within the Chicago Police Department.  Her worked aided in 10 convictions being overturned and shined the light on a police detective who had framed 51 people for crimes they did not commit.

This year I attended The Innocence Network annual conference which took place in Atlanta, Georgia.  This two day conference held April 12 and 13, brought together Innocence Projects from around the country, as well as, the world, exonerees, students, and interested community members.  At the time of this conference, 67 total projects were in existence.  This year’s conference was attended by more than 900 people, of which over 250 were exonerees.

In addition to awards, legislative victories achieved since the last conference were highlighted.  These included exoneree compensation bills passed in Kansas and Massachusetts, changes to the rules of discovery in Virginia,  changes to the ethical rules of professional conduct of prosecutors in Michigan, passage of a bill creating a prosecutorial misconduct review panel in New York, changes in the science statues allowing for a person to go back to court if past testing methods are found to be unreliable in  Wyoming, changes allowing those with guilty pleas to petition for post-conviction DNA testing in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and changes in the rules for using jail house snitches as witnesses in criminal proceedings in Illinois.

We also learned about badly needed reforms.  The Network is currently advocating the need for a National Forensic Science Agency.  The call for this independent agency stems from flawed forensics being the second leading cause of wrongful convictions.  Use of methods which have since been thrown out as junk science include testing of hair and bite marks.  The fundamental problem is forensic science was created in an effort to solve crimes and developed methods are not independently validated through peer review studies or professional testing.  Most concerning is “experts” testify to results of these tests and the tests become standardized.  Juries are left to believe the science behind these forensic tests is valid and can be relied on as empirical evidence and for identifying perpetrators.  A national agency with the mission of validating testing methodology and results would provide much needed independent oversight of the more than 400 publicly funded crime labs in this country.

The opening wrapped up with a discussion of the critical need for independent reviews of police and District Attorney offices when improper conduct is found.  These types of reviews are standard in nearly all licensed professions, why are they missing in the criminal justice system?  We were left with this final thought: with independent oversight, there would likely be exponential growth in exonerations.