EDITORIAL: Working to free those wrongfully behind bars
Forum | 3/28/06
Posted online at 12:30 AM EST on 3/28/06
It's become an alarmingly familiar parable: An inmate, wrongfully accused of murder and condemned to death row, is exonerated by DNA testing. Or even worse: Such evidence is unavailable, resulting in the execution of an innocent man.
But sometimes, a dedicated gumshoe's efforts can save a wrongfully accused person's life where lawyers and laboratories can not. Brandeis should be proud of its role in this growing practice. Since September, visiting Prof. Pam Cytrynbaum (AMST) has run a journalism-based innocence project within the Brandeis Institute of Investigative Journalism, working with student interns to investigate the claim of a convicted murderer in Massachusetts whose conviction cannot be overturned by DNA evidence.
On March 15, she presented to University Provost Marty Krauss a proposal to make her project-which currently draws its funding through a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation-a permanent institution here. This is the only program of its kind in the Northeast, and it is essential that the University commit resources toward expanding its efforts.
A 2000 study by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Senate and the Columbia University School of Law estimated a five percent failure rate in the U.S. Justice System, which translates to as many as 100,000 wrongfully convicted prisoners behind bars.
But most innocence projects-which are generally run by law schools-only take cases in which post-conviction DNA testing can conclusively prove a prisoner's innocence. According to Ms. Cytrynbaum, 80 percent of murder convictions are made without DNA evidence, leaving most claims ineligible for such investigations.
Journalism-based innocence projects examine a larger scope of evidence than ones based at law schools. They include investigations into allegations of police abuses, prosecutorial misconduct and other violations of due process. Since 1996, David Protess, an investigative journalist who runs an innocence project at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, has helped exonerate 10 inmates, five of whom were on death row, according to the project's Web site.
Currently, Ms. Cytrynbaum works with only six undergraduate interns, and has to balance the project with her other responsibilities. Brandeis should permanently install Ms. Cytrynbaum or another qualified investigative journalist at the program's helm next academic year and expand the project's scope by including a class devoted to its mission.
A permanent innocence project is tailor-fit to the University's philosophy of social justice. Ms. Cytrynbaum and her interns work not only to save lives, but also as watchdogs over a criminal justice system that, far too often, breeds cynicism when it should inspire trust.
Editor's note: Deputy editor Alexandra Perloe is a student intern working for Ms. Cytrynbaum's innocence project. Ms. Perloe recused herself from this editorial. Also, four editors are currently enrolled in Ms. Cytrynbaum's "Investigating Justice" course.
But sometimes, a dedicated gumshoe's efforts can save a wrongfully accused person's life where lawyers and laboratories can not. Brandeis should be proud of its role in this growing practice. Since September, visiting Prof. Pam Cytrynbaum (AMST) has run a journalism-based innocence project within the Brandeis Institute of Investigative Journalism, working with student interns to investigate the claim of a convicted murderer in Massachusetts whose conviction cannot be overturned by DNA evidence.
On March 15, she presented to University Provost Marty Krauss a proposal to make her project-which currently draws its funding through a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation-a permanent institution here. This is the only program of its kind in the Northeast, and it is essential that the University commit resources toward expanding its efforts.
A 2000 study by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Senate and the Columbia University School of Law estimated a five percent failure rate in the U.S. Justice System, which translates to as many as 100,000 wrongfully convicted prisoners behind bars.
But most innocence projects-which are generally run by law schools-only take cases in which post-conviction DNA testing can conclusively prove a prisoner's innocence. According to Ms. Cytrynbaum, 80 percent of murder convictions are made without DNA evidence, leaving most claims ineligible for such investigations.
Journalism-based innocence projects examine a larger scope of evidence than ones based at law schools. They include investigations into allegations of police abuses, prosecutorial misconduct and other violations of due process. Since 1996, David Protess, an investigative journalist who runs an innocence project at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, has helped exonerate 10 inmates, five of whom were on death row, according to the project's Web site.
Currently, Ms. Cytrynbaum works with only six undergraduate interns, and has to balance the project with her other responsibilities. Brandeis should permanently install Ms. Cytrynbaum or another qualified investigative journalist at the program's helm next academic year and expand the project's scope by including a class devoted to its mission.
A permanent innocence project is tailor-fit to the University's philosophy of social justice. Ms. Cytrynbaum and her interns work not only to save lives, but also as watchdogs over a criminal justice system that, far too often, breeds cynicism when it should inspire trust.
Editor's note: Deputy editor Alexandra Perloe is a student intern working for Ms. Cytrynbaum's innocence project. Ms. Perloe recused herself from this editorial. Also, four editors are currently enrolled in Ms. Cytrynbaum's "Investigating Justice" course.
