Indiana University students will soon be assisting defense attorneys and experts as they work to free falsely convicted Hoosiers from prison.
The Indiana Innocence Project is the newest franchisee of the national organization known for using DNA evidence to exonerate wrongly convicted prisoners. The group says its work has freed hundreds of prisoners across the country.
The new project is affiliated with the Maurer School of Law and the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, both in Bloomington.
“We have the support of both of the chairs and the deans. And all the rest of it is ready to go,” criminology faculty member Marla Sandys said.
Sandys is a founding member of the Indiana organization, which held its first event in Indianapolis over the weekend. She previously worked with students on innocence claims at the McKinney School of Law at IU-Indianapolis.
“We'll be able to bring and involve students right from the very beginning. And that's been a core part of our mission from the start,” she said.
Sandys says students will perform a variety of roles such as processing assistance requests, helping with investigations, and reviewing transcripts.
Initial funding is being provided by the Herbert Simon Family Foundation.
