Pa. project aims to aid inmates
Based at Temple, it will focus on injustices.
A nationwide organization that has worked to exonerate hundreds of wrongfully convicted inmates has a new affiliate housed at Temple University.
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project, based at Temple's law school, opens doors today. It will review petitions submitted from around the state by inmates who say they are serving time for crimes they did not commit.
"Even before our doors are open . . . we're getting letters every week from inmates," executive director Richard Glazer said.
The group will start at Temple with about a dozen law students and a dozen lawyers; eventually, journalism and law schools statewide will be involved.
Students will learn about DNA evidence and procedures, review inmate applications with volunteer lawyers, and make recommendations on which cases should be pursued. The lawyers will also assist students with cases accepted for investigation.
The project - unlike some others - won't limit itself to cases in which biological evidence exists for DNA testing, but will also look at cases in which questionable forensic evidence or other investigatory issues are identified.
"There are wrongful convictions which cannot be exposed as the result of biological evidence because it wasn't preserved," said David Richman, a lawyer and co-founder and president of the project. "You're leaving untouched a large number of cases."
The project also seeks to reform the criminal justice system by fixing systemic flaws that allow such miscarriages of justice, Glazer said.