Announcing the launch of our "2023 Project Free the Innocent: Journey to Justice"
I am often asked, "What can I do to help stop wrongful convictions and/or help those already wrongfully convicted?" This year we invite you to join us for our 2023 Project Free the Innocent: Journey to Justice. We will be dedicated to offering as many modalities as possible for you to contribute to raising awareness about wrongful convictions, exposing injustice, and/or furthering your own case or one for which you advocate.—Liz Franklin, Founding Director, Wrongful Convictions News™
To that end, this year we are compiling a treasure trove of resources to help you with a variety of such issues as:
- Where and how you can volunteer
- What to do if you or a family member/loved one has a brush with law enforcement and other legal situations
- Where and how to get the information you need to advance your own case or one that you advocate
Plus tons of how-tos, all cataloged here in one place.
Here are just a handful of the resources already on the list that we will be exploring. However, in order to do this properly, we are asking for your help. From now until Wrongful Conviction Day on October 2nd, we will be compiling a list of resources that we feel will help those who are navigating their way through their journey to justice. Whether it be legal help, help with issues of law enforcement, how to hire the right attorney for your case, where to find an awesome investigator, an online Bible study group that caters to the wrongfully convicted, or how to volunteer hands-on, remotely or financially, etc. If there is a resource that you recommend (and preferably have first-hand knowledge of) we want to hear from you. You can easily recommend a resource by clicking here.
How to write an effective clemency request letter.
How to contact the right people and what communication mode is best. Also, what's the best way to follow up.
First impressions are everything. How long should your first contact be—or rather, how short?
A ½ page of attention-getting facts or a lifelong manifesto—which one do you think an intake specialist is more likely to read first?st?
How to determine if there was jury misconduct at play.
This is a good resource for those who feel they're out of options. It can get you back in court...which should be your ultimate goal.
Above all, PRAY! Make your own prayer list for those you see fighting for their freedom in Wrongful Convictions News™ and other platforms.
Click here for our partner resource Justice through Prayer™.
How to become a proactive advocate.
Give the person you champion the best you have, whatever your situation may be.
How to manage your way through the FOIA to request the documents you need for your case.
Muckrock is a non-profit that provides a repository of hundreds of thousands of pages of original government materials, information on how to file requests, and tools to make the requesting process easier.
How to create an official Innocence Club at your high school or college/university, click here.
As an innocence club, one of your primary functions is to educate and raise awareness in your community about wrongful convictions and actual innocence.
How to successfully use social media to further your WC cause.
The Police Scorecard is the first nationwide public evaluation of law enforcement.
The Scorecard calculates levels of police violence,
accountability, racial bias and other policing outcomes covering nearly 100% of
the US population.
Can You Recant Your Confession?
Anyone who makes a statement to the police has
the option of retracting or recanting such testimony. However, there are
limits.