947 years they can never get back

Too many exonerees were wrongfully convicted when they were still kids. More than one-third of the 215 people exonerated by DNA evidence to date were between 14 and 22 years old when arrested. They served a combined 947 years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.

The Innocence Project launched a national campaign today – “

947 Years. In Their Prime. In Prison. Innocent

.” – to educate and engage young people in the work of freeing the innocent and preventing wrongful convictions.

The campaign’s

website

includes a new two-minute video, a petition supporting universal access to post-conviction DNA testing access and multimedia accounts of the cases of 11 people who were convicted in their youth.

Click here

to sign the petition today, and

click here

to explore the new website.

We will rely on your support to keep the momentum going among our nation’s youth. We ask that you

forward the site

to young people, parents and teachers here, and you can help us spread the word on

Facebook

,

MySpace

and

YouTube

.