Our Story

Established in 2005, the Innocence Network counts over 70 independent organizations as members, most of which represent people who have been wrongfully convicted and are fighting to prove their innocence.

Our history

The advent of new DNA testing methods in the early 1990s gave rise to a number of organizations dedicated to proving claims of innocence that had been almost impossible to prove without DNA. As research on the causes of wrongful convictions, including eyewitness misidentification and false confessions, proliferated, claims of innocence based on non-DNA evidence were on the rise, as were the number of innocence organizations, largely housed in law schools in clinical programs. By 2000, there were 10 programs that met in Chicago for what would be the first Innocence Network Conference, now held annually each spring.

In 2004, the member organizations decided to define their association as a loosely affiliated network. A group of organization directors developed a planning committee to create membership criteria and a structure to guide the work of the members. The first 21 official members of the Innocence Network were admitted in November 2005, and a Network Executive Board was established.

Over the last fifteen years, the Network has more than quadrupled in size with members in the United States as well as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, and Israel. Our members include independent nonprofits as well as organizations affiliated in varying degrees with law schools or other educational institutions, units of public defender offices, and pro bono sections of law firms.

Where We Are Today

The Innocence Network now counts 71 organizations as part of our coalition, and together we work to combat wrongful convictions. The majority of the Innocence Network’s members are based in the United States and are mainly focused on criminal justice reform in the United States, but the Network also includes non-U.S. organizations that meet its membership criteria. The Network maintains an International Committee, and we strongly encourage the development of other networks of innocence organizations around the world, recognizing them as critically important partners in this work globally. Currently, the Network includes 59 U.S.-based organizations and 12 organizations located outside of the U.S.