The Faces of Wrongful Conviction

More than 200 men and women have been wrongfully convicted in California since 1990.  That amounts to approximately one a month, an unconscionable statistic under any circumstances.  At The Faces of Wrongful Conviction conference, hosted by UCLA Law School, dozens of these men and women, many of whom served long prison terms, will speak out about the errors and biases that unjustly landed them behind bars, and their struggle for freedom

They will be joined by such leading experts as Barry Scheck, co-director of New York’s Innocence Project, which has helped free more than 100 people through DNA evidence; nationally acclaimed death penalty attorneys Stephen Bright and Bryan Stevenson; and state Senator Gloria Romero, legislative liaison to the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice.

Through the astounding stories of the wrongfully convicted and presentations by legal experts and policy leaders, the conference will lay bare the problems of wrongful conviction and the unfair application of the death penalty in California.  Not only will it expose disparities and biases, but at workshops and plenaries panelists will brainstorm with participants to find solutions. 

Santa Clara University Professor of Law and Director of the Death Penalty College, Ellen Kreitzberg, is one of the conference organizers and will be speaking on a panel about new research around the death penalty – discussing the recent litigation surrounding the lethal injection procedures.  Santa Clara University School of Law’s Northern California Innocence Project will be highlighted at the opening reception on Friday night, April 7^th and attorney Linda Starr of the Innocence Project will also be speaking on a panel.  Law school professor and former dean, Jerry Uelmen will be attending the conference in his capacity as Executive Director of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice.

For more information visit www.stopwrongfulconvictions.org.