About

The Exoneration Justice Clinic provides law students with real-world lawyering experience representing clients who were wrongfully convicted. By working in the clinic, students also gain invaluable insight into the criminal justice system.

The clinic provides clients who are exonerated access to a network of social support services, such as education and vocational training, transitional housing, and health care services, including mental health counseling, and other support programs. Access to a network of social services will assist the client in successfully reintegrating into society.

Finally, the Exoneration Justice Clinic works with innocence clinics to advocate for legislative reforms that will prevent wrongful convictions from happening in the first place.

Legislative Reform

The EJC works with innocence clinics to advocate for legislative reforms that will prevent wrongful convictions from happening in the first place.

Most recently, the EJC worked with the Innocence Project and IU McKinney School of Law Wrongful Conviction Clinic in Indiana to enact evidence preservation legislation. In July 2022, H.B. 1144 was enacted into law, which requires that certain evidence in the possession or control of an Indiana law enforcement agency that could be subjected to DNA testing and analysis be preserved for twenty (20) years from the date that the defendant’s conviction becomes final. This legislation ensures that biological evidence that could prove a defendant’s innocence is available for DNA testing.