Making an Exoneree does not represent individuals. Instead, our undergraduate students thoroughly reinvestigate cases with strong claims of innocence, ultimately creating short documentary films that highlight the factors contributing to a wrongful conviction and humanize the incarcerated person and their story. Under the supervision of Making an Exoneree staff and faculty and working in parallel with undergraduate students, a law student evaluates the legal issues in each case. If the incarcerated individual is already represented, the law student may assist the attorney as appropriate. If the individual is unrepresented, the law student often works to help secure pro bono legal representation.
We seek to achieve the best possible outcomes for our program participants. When exoneration is not possible, we explore other potential avenues for relief, including parole, clemency, pardons, engagement with conviction integrity units, strategic advocacy, public awareness efforts, and other legal or advocacy pathways.
Upon submission, the Making an Exoneree case review team will assess each case for possible inclusion in an upcoming cohort. Please note that our review process is lengthy and can take several months. Wrongful convictions are a prevalent issue in the United States, and as a result, Making an Exoneree receives a high volume of requests for case review. While we are always accepting submissions, our capacity is limited, and we are unable to respond to each request immediately. Our classes are small, and unfortunately we are not able to take on nearly as many cases as we would like. Although we are unable to take on every matter, we carefully evaluate each request to determine where our resources can have the greatest impact.
We appreciate your patience as we carefully work through submissions. We wish you and your loved ones all the best during these difficult times, which we know are particularly compounded for those in prison, and especially the wrongfully convicted.