The Innocence Project and Winston & Strawn Launch Online Database of DNA Wrongful Convictions

Today, the Innocence Project and Winston & Strawn LLP launched InnocenceRecord.org, the first on-line, searchable database of the court records and other data of the cases of those who have been wrongfully convicted and later exonerated through DNA evidence. 

For the last six years, attorneys, summer associates, paralegals, researchers and staff at Winston & Strawn and the Innocence Project have devoted thousands of hours scouring the country for every available court record relating to cases where wrongfully convicted defendants were later exonerated through the use of DNA evidence.  These files were then carefully summarized and abstracted by Winston & Strawn, while the records themselves were archived and digitized.


InnocenceRecord.org

is the first forum dedicated to cataloguing these case records and making them available to be searched by name, date, jurisdiction, or even by individual words within the records themselves.  Peter Neufeld, co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project, describes this effort as “one of the most important contributions to the innocence movement by a private law firm.  It will enable us and other advocates to hopefully be able to fix the problems in the system that cause so many wrongful convictions.” 

Because of the sensitive nature of the material in the database, users are required to register before gaining access to much of the material in the database, and an application process is required to view some of the material. 

Winston & Strawn LLP is an international commercial law firm with 14 offices in America, Asia and Europe.  More information about the firm is available at

www.winston.com

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Read the full press release here

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