Downstate Illinois Innocence Project®
Activities
The Downstate Illinois Innocence Project also regularly conducts educational programs designed to bring attention to actual innocence cases it is working on and to inform the public about many of the major failings of the criminal justice system. Public programs have included the following:
- A presentation on November 10, 2008 by Dr. Richard Leo, Associate Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco on "The Psychology of False Confessions." Dr. Leo is the nation's leading expert on false confessions. His research of police interrogation tactics has lead to a movement toward video-taping of all custodial interrogations. In his lecture, he discussed the psychological ploys that police use that can cause a person to falsely confess. A reception was held before-hand and a book-signing of his newly released book, "The Wrong Guys" followed the lecture. The event produced a standing-room only crowd at around 200 people.
- A presentation in 2006 by Peter Neufeld, Co-Founder of the National Innocence Project, on "The Crisis in Criminal Justice: The Wrongful Conviction of the Innocent." The National Innocence Project currently represents hundreds of inmates seeking post-conviction release through DNA testing.
- A presentation in 2005 by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, chronicling his wrongful conviction of a triple murder in New Jersey in which he narrowly escaped the electric chair. Never giving up the fight for his freedom, his conviction was finally overturned after 20 long years in prison.
- Two presentations by Professor Gary Wells, a national expert on witness misidentification. He spoke at two forums in 2002. He presented a workshop on witness misidentification for local attorneys, and he lead a fourm that included UIS students who shared their work on the Keith Harris case. The second event was open to the public and a reception immediately followed the presentation and discussion.
- Presentations and panel discussions in 2002 and 2003 that included Thomas Frisbie, author of the book, Victims of Justice, a book covering the erroneous convictions of Orlando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico in Naperville, Illinois. The presentations and discussions addressed the issue of the “prosecution complex”, as well as others.
- A forum on DNA with DNA expert Brenda Phillis, Director Bob Davis, and former administrator Richard Dunn from the State of Illinois Police Forensic Science Laboratory.
- A presentation in 2003 by Diane Fanning, author of Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells, who discovered the truth regarding Julie Rea Harper’s innocence when Sells confessed to her that he, not Rea, had committed the murder. The program was preceded by a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. Both events were free and open to the public. Over 75 people attended.