David Protess in The Huffington Post: Wrongful Conviction Hearing a Revelation
DAVID PROTESS IN THE HUFFINGTON POST: POLICE SCANDAL ELUDEs MEDIA RADAR
ChIP President Wins Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism
Breaking news and eventsDavid Protess in The Huffington Post:
Wrongful Conviction Hearing a Revelation Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn: State's Attorney's Office regrets characterization of defendants as 'mutts' Chicago Sun-Times Editorial: Check out all abuse claims against one cop New York Times: Scrutiny on Prosecutors After Questions About Brooklyn Detective’s Work David Protess in The Huffington Post: Murder in Mississippi DePaul University Features ChIP in "Employer Spotlight" Former ChIP Intern, Tania Karas, New York Law Journal: Lawyer Grows Close to Client on Death Row for 25 Years Innocence Project: Mississippi Set to Execute Man Without DNA Testing St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Former Illinois chief justice who argued against the death penalty dies Tortured Justice: The case of Stanley Wrice |
Watchdogs over the justice system
Founded in 2011, the Chicago Innocence Project ("ChIP") is a nonprofit organization devoted to investigative reporting of wrongful convictions. ChIP engages college students, community residents, private investigators and journalists in reporting, exposing and remedying mistakes by the criminal justice system.
Like its predecessor, the Medill Innocence Project, ChIP was established by Northwestern University Professor David Protess. Under Protess's tutelage, Medill students uncovered evidence that freed 12 innocent prisoners, five of them from death row, igniting a debate about the death penalty that led to its abolition in Illinois. "A system that depends on young journalism students is flawed," former Gov. George H. Ryan said in an announcement that he had cleared death row. The governor also praised Protess for being a teacher who has "poured his heart and soul" into helping his students free innocent prisoners. As President of ChIP, Protess is continuing the tradition of hard-hitting investigative reporting that he began at Northwestern. But ChIP is unique in several respects: INDEPENDENT The nonprofit is independent of any one university and functions autonomously of powerful institutions. DIVERSE Students are drawn from universities throughout the midwest that provide internship credit for experiential learning. Priority is given to schools with strong diversity policies. ENGAGED Residents of communities that particularly suffer from the problem of wrongful convictions participate in the reporting process. Among the residents are exonerated prisoners, who are trained as citizen investigative reporters. "Nonprofit investigative reporting groups are the wave of the future," Protess said, citing as examples ProPublica, the Better Government Association, The Center for Public Integrity, The Texas Tribune, the Voice of San Diego and The Center for Investigative Reporting. "ChIP joins their ranks while becoming the first group of its kind to solely report about the problem of wrongful convictions." Working alongside Protess is renowned journalist, writer and teacher, Pamela Cytrynbaum, ChIP's executive director, and veteran private detective William Dorsch. Criminal Injustice: the best reporting on wrongful convictions (#muck reads)
Check out ProPublica's comprehensive compilation on the best examples of reporting on wrongful convictions investigations.
Photo Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Salon: Who will prosecute the corrupt prosecutors?
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Check out "Defending Gideon" - a short documentary
Watch "Defending Gideon," produced by The New Media Advocacy Project and The Constitution Project. The short documentary exposes the lack of adequate indigent defense 50 years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright.
Here's a link to the new to the new report:
New Report Shows Law Enforcement Support of Exonerations at Record Highs
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News from the Executive Director
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