An Innocence Project is a group of (not necessarily law) students investigating, normally under the supervision of a practising lawyer, the case of a convicted person maintaining innocence, who has exhausted the initial appeals process. Students aim to find evidence that will assist them in making an application to the CCRC for that person’s case to be reviewed for referral back to the Court of Appeal.

There are no definitive criteria for innocence projects, other than that they are concerned with allegations of factual/actual innocence as opposed to allegations of technical miscarriages of justice. Innocence projects do not consider claims that murder convictions should have been convictions for manslaughter, for instance.

Important note: the INUK is committed to the preservation of criminal legal aid and considers that innocence projects are a supplement to, and not a replacement for, legal aid.

The structures of the existing criminal appeal system cannot guarantee that all innocent victims of wrongful conviction will overturn their convictions. Instead, the appeal courts attempt to determine whether criminal convictions are ‘unsafe’ in terms of compliance with due process.

In addition, legal aid is not always available to persons maintaining their innocence wishing to appeal, so finances are often a huge problem. Also, much has been written about the reducing number of criminal legal aid lawyers, so access to appropriate legal advice is not always easy.

Finally, there are considerable educational benefits associated with the study of ‘justice in error’, adding valuable insight and experience into the curriculum of law and society. Those teaching potential future lawyers, for instance, can observe the educational benefits of innovative programmes involving real-client work, whilst ensuring that future practitioners develop a passion for justice, ethical practice, and pro bono work. Some key educational rewards that accompany innocence projects are summarised as follows:

‘Lawyering’ skills: dealing with clients, acting like a professional and dealing with other professionals, communication skills – written/oral/formal presentation.

Critical thinking and analysis: Problem solving, creative/lateral thinking, collaboration.

Case management: record keeping/time management, organisation and prioritising, dealing with interruptions and unscheduled work.

Fact-finding: utilising variety of resources, use of different disciplines outside of law, application of law to the facts.

Students learn essential transferable legal, personal and communication skills through their involvement with real-life cases, whether they intend to work in commercial or high-street law firms. In this way, innocence projects are a viable low-cost alternative form of clinical legal education for universities.

There is no single model for creating and running an innocence project, so projects will run in different ways. One size does not fit all!

Our affiliated projects choose suitable cases from the central INUK casebank. INUK informs the client that the case has been allocated to one of its projects, who then contact the client and will seek clarification of key facts and issues. Innocence project investigations include prison visits to alleged innocent victims of wrongful conviction, interviewing families and friends, witnesses, writing reports for solicitors and barristers, and meetings with forensic science experts.

Innocence projects do not replace the role of practising solicitors and barristers. They work in conjunction with those lawyers locally, providing extra pairs of hands in the re-investigation, provided all parties are in agreement. Innocence projects can also work under the distant supervision of those lawyers, who issue instructions and guidance when needed.

There are three distinct stages to the casework process:

The first stage of the Casework Process is a letter from a prisoner maintaining innocence asking the Innocence Network UK for assistance. An Introductory Letter and a Preliminary Questionnaire is sent out by the INUK Administrators. The Preliminary Questionnaire asks straight forward questions about the case:

Personal details;

Alleged crime;

Length of sentence;

Date of convictions, and so on;;

A brief description of the prosecution’s case, including any evidence produced at trial in support of the prosecution’s case;

Argument put forward by the defence, including evidence produced at trial;

Previous lawyers, at trial, appeal and/or an application to the CCRC;

Full appeal history, giving reasons cited for failed appeals, and CCRC decision if applicable.

Most crucially, the Preliminary questionnaire then asks more specific questions about how an innocence project affiliated with the INUK may assist the prisoner maintaining innocence:

Why do you think you were wrongly convicted of the crime?;

Do you have an alibi that proves that you could not have committed the crime that you have been convicted of? If so, please provide details;

Is there any physical evidence (DNA, fingerprints etc) that proves that you could not have committed the crime?;

How do you think an Innocence Project can help you prove your innocence? In other words, point us in the right direction; and,

Is there any fresh evidence to now indicate that you are innocent that was not put before the jury at your trial?

When the completed Preliminary Questionnaire is returned, cases meeting the INUK’s criteria are deemed ‘eligible’ and put on file to be allocated to Casework Teams from affiliated innocence projects upon request. Alternatively, cases which do not meet the required criteria are deemed ‘ineligible’ for further investigation, but are kept on record for future research potential.

Stage 2

When cases deemed to be eligible are allocated to a Casework Team from an affiliated innocence project, more specific questions that arise from the completed Preliminary Questionnaire are put to the prisoner. For instance, clarification may be sought about any potential evidence that was mentioned. This may include the names and addresses of potential alibi witnesses; guidance about obtaining fresh evidence; allegations put forward by the prisoner as evidence of their innocence that student caseworkers may wish to further explore and/or confirm. In essence, this stage of the casework process is a rigorous ‘test’ of the information provided in the Preliminary Questionnaire, before a full Stage 3 Investigation is undertaken. Anything that you may be unsure of is made sure of at this stage.

Stage 3

When Casework Teams from affiliated innocence projects and the supervising solicitors are satisfied that a case may have potential grounds for future appeal, a full investigation is initiated. This involves a signed ‘Authority to Release Letter’ from the prisoner so that all files and documents can be obtained from the previous solicitors on the case. This can involve many boxes of case materials – trial summing up; Court of Appeal judgement; applications to the CCRC; witness statements; photographs and other exhibits, and so on. This will arrive in a highly disorganised state and requires a methodical and meticulous approach to putting the case files back into chronological order. Only then will any discrepancies that need to be investigated further and possible grounds for appeal and/or application to the CCRC emerge. As already indicated, all casework is properly supervised by practicing criminal solicitors working with the affiliated innocence projects to guide them through the investigation.

Solicitor takes on the case

It is still early days in the life of the INUK and affiliated innocence projects and this stage of the casework process has not, yet, occurred. In theory, however, if a full investigation turns up grounds for appeal, the supervising solicitors formally take on the case and prepare it for trial.

We believe that affiliated innocence projects should work to agreed protocols, to manage the expectations of our users, and to create and retain a professional recognition and standing independent of, but aligned to, the practising legal profession.

This includes minimum standards for ‘client’ care and keeps in mind at all times the need to inform alleged innocent victims of wrongful conviction of the progress of their case.

At a very basic level, this involves regular letters to clients during term time, or following all meetings with supervising solicitors and barristers about the case.

We further recommend that student investigators in affiliated innocence projects follow some basic guidelines, including:

1. As a precursor to case work, they should first familiarise themselves with all of the materials that are available in the public domain on the basis that lack of knowledge of case facts will tend to induce lack of trust and credibility.

2. They should produce a timeline for the case – a detailed chronology of the incident, followed by significant events (hearings etc.) The timeline can be used as a tool to identify discrepancies or find problems with the case.

3. They should early on produce a list of key characters and the names and contact details of anyone who is involved in the case in any way.

4. All casework should be recorded in some form of case management system, listing all the documents on the case, where they are and what they contain. This aids the production of the required annual report to INUK on each case under investigation.

5. They should be aware of key communication skills, such as active listening, questioning, interviewing generally, letter and report writing, and the need to recognise when to seek guidance from supervising lawyers.

6. Before any approach is made to potential witnesses or clients, they must always seek express guidance from supervising lawyers.

We believe it is of paramount importance to avoid giving prisoners and the general public the naïve impression that innocence projects are the answer to all their problems, and that within months our projects will have scores of innocent prisoners freed.

There are complex evidential issues and huge, sometimes insurmountable, hurdles stand in the way of persuading the CCRC to refer a case back to the Court of Appeal.

The statistics are against us, and the timescales involved are long. But where our innocence projects are involved with a person maintaining innocence, we consider that we can offer hope and keen critical student minds where otherwise someone may have little hope.