Resources: Legal Resources

Legal clinic reviewing cases of innocence for people who have gone to trial and were found guilty of crimes they did not commit. They consider post-conviction cases from across the nation for individuals wrongfully convicted of different types of crimes and with different sentence lengths, including cases where a defendant has served their complete sentence or pled guilty. They do not consider cases of self-defense. In order to apply for representation, the defendant must be innocent of the crime and the trial must be completed and have resulted in a conviction. Expect delays in the summer. Will consider cases nationwide.

The MacArthur Justice Center is a nonprofit law firm with locations in Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Washington D.C. It takes on cases regarding police misconduct, solitary confinement, wrongful convictions, and class actions around prison conditions and parole. Now also a law clinic at Northwestern law school. Write to Chicago address for other locations. Serves nationwide. Expect delay or form response.

The University of Baltimore Innocence Project Clinic seeks to identify individuals who have been convicted in Maryland state courts of crimes they did not commit and to provide them with assistance in the investigation of their claims. In appropriate cases, representation will be provided in post-trial litigation efforts to secure exonerations. Accepts cases of actual innocence in Maryland; DNA and non-DNA cases. Serves Maryland only.

In order to qualify for representation, a prisoner must: Be wrongly convicted of crimes in Washington; be unable to afford counsel; no longer have the right to appointed counsel; have completed the direct appeals process; have at least three years of prison time remaining to be served; have a claim of actual innocence that can be proven through DNA testing or other newly discovered evidence; and have no involvement in the crime whatsoever. Must have been convicted in Washington state to qualify.

The Wisconsin Innocence Project (WIP) is a clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School.  WIP reviews cases of actual innocence. Must be incarcerated in Wisconsin, have at least seven years left of your sentence, and have a significant chance that substantial new evidence may be found to support a claim of innocence. This newly discovered evidence (NDE) could be physical evidence that was not previously subjected to forensic examination, such as DNA testing.  NDE may also include non-physical evidence, such as from an eyewitness who was previously unknown or a recantation from a victim, if such a recantation is supported by other new evidence. Serves Wisconsin only.