Carey Hoffman
Right now, Oct. 2, is Wrongful Conviction Day — the annual worldwide observance devoted to ending wrongful convictions and highlighting the plight of these convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.
This yr, Wrongful Conviction Day is highlighting the position that racial bias performs in wrongful convictions and the efforts to repair the felony justice system in its entirety. Created by the Innocence Community in 2014, Wrongful Conviction Day goals to lift consciousness of the causes and cures of wrongful conviction and to acknowledge the large private, social and emotional prices of wrongful conviction for harmless folks and their households.
“Wrongful Conviction Day is just not solely a part of a motion, it’s also all the time a private day for everybody who works on behalf of the Ohio Innocence Challenge,” says Mark Godsey, the OIP’s co-founder and director.
“Right now marks the primary Wrongful Conviction Day celebrated in freedom for 2 extra Ohio exonerees launched this yr, Ru-El Sailor and Christopher Miller. They spent a mixed 32 years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit. We have fun their innocence, but in addition decide to redoubling our efforts to help the harmless who’re nonetheless imprisoned, together with our advocacy efforts to finish the practices that almost all typically produce wrongful convictions.”
Ru-El Sailor, left, congratulates Christopher Miller simply moments after Miller lastly was granted his freedom. Sailor and Miller had been each launched this yr with assist from the Ohio Innocence Challenge. Fellow OIP exoneree Dean Gillispie can be seen, again left.
As a part of the nationwide celebrations, the Nationwide Basketball Coaches Affiliation (NBCA) helps deliver consideration to the observance. Eight NBA coaches have filmed public service bulletins for Wrongful Conviction Day:
Greater than 40 occasions are going down in 5 nations, with many all through varied states within the U.S., together with:
- The Virginia Innocence Challenge Professional Bono Clinic, which is a part of the Innocence Challenge at UVA Regulation, will maintain a panel dialogue of felony protection leaders and wrongfully convicted women and men at Caplin Pavilion. Presenters embrace exoneree, legal professional and the Innocence Challenge’s first Publish-Conviction Litigation Fellow Jarrett Adams; Jason Flom, CEO of Lava Data and a founding board member of the Innocence Challenge; and legal professional Dean Strang, featured on the Netflix documentary “Making a Assassin” and professor at UVA Regulation faculty.
- The College of Illinois Springfield campus quad is putting in flags to signify every particular person exonerated since 1989.
- The Constructing Homeowners and Managers Affiliation of Chicago (BOMA) constructing shall be illuminated in honor of Wrongful Conviction Day from Oct. 1-Oct. 6.
- The Metropolis of Tallahassee has created a proclamation to formally acknowledge October 2 as Wrongful Conviction Day.
- There shall be extra native movie screenings, exoneree and professional led discussions, and community group fundraisers throughout the nation.
Members of the general public are inspired to {photograph} occasions and submit their footage to social media utilizing the hashtag #WrongfulConvictionDay and tag @theOhioInnProj.
In the meantime, a social media marketing campaign that shall be launched later as we speak features a Twitter Takeover with the hashtag #WrongfulConvictionDay at 3pm EST/12pm PST.
For additional info, please go to iwcd.org.
