Motivated by the work of Innocence Project’s tenacious policy team, states took meaningful steps in 2025 to make the system fairer and more accountable.
12.08.25 By Alyxaundria Sanford
Exoneree Renay Lynch speaks at a press conference to protect Kalief’s Law in Albany on April 7, 2025. Image courtesy of The Bronx Defenders.
From reforming eyewitness identification to streamlining compensation for exonerees, the Innocence Project, exonerees, and our Innocence Network partners continue to advance major reforms across the country. At the same time, we successfully defended critical discovery laws in New York and Texas, stopping efforts that would have made it harder for people to prove their innocence.
“When legislators hear from exonerees what it was like to experience being wrongfully conflicted, they respond regardless of political persuasion,“ Walter Katz, Innocence Project’s policy director, said. “We will continue to center the lived experiences of people impacted by the criminal legal system in our efforts to change policies to reveal, correct, and prevent wrongful convictions.”
In Tennessee, people who pled guilty — even if they were innocent — faced steep barriers to post-conviction relief. For years, only those with new scientific evidence could challenge their convictions. Furthermore, only the convicted person could file a motion — prosecutors open to reviewing convictions were shut out. That created silos, inefficiencies, and duplicative litigation. The reform allows prosecutors and defendants to jointly file motions for post-conviction relief, even in cases involving a plea.
Tennessee’s new law, which we passed in collaboration with the Tennessee Innocence Project, provides a crucial lifeline for people who pled guilty despite being innocent — often under immense pressure.
Indiana Public Defender Council’s Zachary Stock, Innocence Project’s Winnie Ye, Indiana Senator Liz Brown, exoneree Leon Benson, and Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic’s Jimmy Gurulé at a senate committee hearing in February 2025. (Image: Courtesy Leon Benson)
A consequential win came in Indiana, in partnership with the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic, when S.B. 141 became law — the state’s first-ever eyewitness identification reform. In Indiana, 36% of wrongful convictions have involved mistaken eyewitness identification. Indiana’s new statewide standard brings science-based practices to every police agency in the state.
S.B. 141 allows prosecutors and defendants to jointly file motions for post-conviction relief:
Cheap, instant, but notoriously unreliable drug tests that are administered in the field have contributed to wrongful arrests across the country. In Colorado, HB 25-1183 created a working group tasked with studying these tests and their impact, and making recommendations on how to regulate them.
This win was the result of a joint effort with the Korey Wise Innocence Project.
In Oklahoma, we worked closely with the Oklahoma Innocence Project to increase compensation for exonerees. H.B. 2235 raised the bar for compensation: exonerees can now receive $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment, including for those who pled guilty — a major shift from the previous $175,000 cap.
In collaboration with the Innocence Project of Florida, we helped enact one of the most significant compensation expansions in the country this year. The new law removes exclusions based on prior “violent felonies,” expands the filing window from 90 days to two years, and allows previously denied claims to be refiled by 2027.
Beyond passing new laws, we also worked to protect existing ones.
As we enter 2026, the Innocence Project and our partners are more committed than ever to transforming the systems that lead to wrongful convictions and strengthening the pathways to freedom. Here’s how you can help advance our fight for justice.
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