Innocence Blog

NY legislators join Innocence Project in supporting sweeping reforms

Posted: May 4, 2007

Leaders in the New York legislature joined Innocence Project officials and New Yorkers who were exonerated by DNA evidence yesterday in announcing broad-based reforms to fix the state’s criminal justice system and help prevent wrongful convictions from happening.

The reforms proposed in several bills before the legislature include the creation of an innocence commission, improving requirements on evidence preservation, post-conviction DNA testing, use of forensic databases to prove innocence and compensation for people exonerated after serving time in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.

Also in attendance yesterday were Alan Newton, who served 22 years in New York prisons for a rape he didn’t commit, and Douglas Warney, who served nine years after falsely confessing to a murder.

Read the Innocence Project’s press release on the reform package.

Read coverage of yesterday’s announcements in the New York Times and Newsday.

Learn more about reforms underway nationwide in our “Fix the System” section.