Collaborative Partners

The Center is a founding member of the Innocence Network. The Network is a coalition of independent innocence organizations dedicated to combating wrongful convictions worldwide and reforming the criminal justice system.

Law students who attend Campbell, Elon, NCCU, and UNC participate in student-run organizations that assist the Center in its review and investigation of innocence claims. By collaborating with the law schools, the Center ensures the efficient review of claims while providing an opportunity for future attorneys to work on real cases, learn from the past work of other attorneys, develop professional skills, and appreciate the value of pro bono legal assistance.

In order to increase efficiency and avoid duplication of efforts, the Center previously screened all intake for the Duke University Law School Wrongful Convictions Clinic and the Wake Forest Innocence and Justice Clinic. Cases initially screened by the Center and referred to Duke’s Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility for further investigation have resulted in nine exonerations.

North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services also investigates innocence claims, but focuses its work is on issues in criminal cases that are not necessarily innocence-related, such as ineffective assistance of counsel, judicial error and sentencing issues.  When the Center reviews a North Carolina case where innocence cannot be proven, but there is an indication that the defendant may not have received a fair trial or sentence, the Center will refer the case to NCPLS.

Exonerees are often left without necessary resources to reintegrate back into our society once released from prison after their tragic ordeals. While the Center provides immediate support, such as obtaining a driver’s license and initial medical evaluations, they need and deserve therapy, job training, social services, and a welcoming place to live while they reunite with family. The Center has partnered with Second Act Farms in Alamance County to build two reentry homes that we hope will help to make obtaining freedom more than a tempory job that fades into fear and frustration with reentry. Read more about our project here.