Preventing Wrongful Convictions Project

The Preventing Wrongful Convictions Project, led by Dr. Jon Gould and funded by the National Institute of Justice, is a unique collaboration between academic researchers and criminal justice professionals, including representatives of the prosecutorial and defense communities. The goal of the project is to understand how the criminal justice system avoids wrongful convictions by comparing violent felony cases that ended in an official exoneration after conviction with those in which defendants had charges dismissed before trial or were acquitted on the basis of their factual innocence.

Qualifying Cases

At this stage in the project, researchers are actively collecting information about acquittal or dismissal cases that meet the following criteria:

1. an indictment for a violent felony;
2. post-1980;
3. where the defendant was later found to be factually innocent; and
4. resulted in an acquittal or dismissal.

If you know of a case that fits the above criteria, please nominate a case. Any information you can give us is helpful, even if you do not know case details. You may also submit a case anonymously. By law, anything you tell us will remain confidential.

Principal Investigator

Project Supervisor