TODAY, Wednesday, October 2nd, is Wrongful Conviction Day – the annual international observance dedicated to ending wrongful convictions and highlighting the plight of those convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Georgia Innocence Project and the Innocence Network urge you to help raise awareness about the causes and consequences of wrongful convictions on this important day. Learn more and join the discussion at: #WrongfulConvictionDay @gainnocence iwcd.org
Then join GIP and friends at 7pm TONIGHT at the Georgia Beer Garden (Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta) to share lessons from the day and try your hand at wrongful conviction trivia, written by GIP attorney Adam McClay.
Raising Awareness In Georgia
This year for Wrongful Conviction Day, exonerees, GIP, and others will speak to over 1,200 students in over a dozen Georgia schools about how and why wrongful convictions happen, and how they can be prevented. Some of the many speakers and participants include:
Bobbie Jean Johnson – 40 years of wrongful imprisonment
Calvin C. Johnson, Jr. – 16 years wrongful imprisonment
Clarence Harrison – 17 years wrongful imprisonment
Jimmie Gardner – 27 years wrongful imprisonment
John White – 22 years wrongful imprisonment
Marquis Jackson – 19 years wrongful imprisonment
Pete Williams – 22 years wrongful imprisonment
You can get involved too!
TODAY, on Wrongful Conviction Day, take some time to think about and discuss the negative impact that human factors such as implicit biases and memory malleability can play on our criminal legal system’s promise of justice. Here are some tools to help you start the discussion:
- Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Lloyd Pierce recorded a few messages about human factors in wrongful convictions. Share Coach Pierce’s lessons with others:
- Do you have or know curious young children? Use this charming reading by Dekalb County Public Library of The Trial of Cardigan Jones to talk with youngsters about the basics of our criminal justice system and the importance not of jumping to conclusions.
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- Read this this article, and watch and share these human factors videos, which members of the Innocence Network created in partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and others.
- Check out GIP’s Wrongful Conviction 101 201 fact sheet for information you can use to start the conversation.
- Read and share the extraordinary opinion from Georgia’s Supreme Court in the Devonia Inman case, encouraging prosecutors to let justice be done.
GIP’s Wrongful Conviction Day efforts were supported in part by a grant from the Atlanta Bar Foundation.