At the New England Innocence Project, we use every avenue available to prevent wrongful convictions and provide support for people released after a wrongful conviction. While correcting wrongful convictions largely happens one individual and one family at a time, our policy efforts have the potential to affect change for entire communities statewide.
Here are just some of the initiatives we have championed this year, oftentimes with community partners:
Banning Deception in Interrogations in Massachusetts
This year, we partnered with Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian to pursue legislation (H.3922) that would end deception in interrogations and mandate the recording of interrogations in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts and 40 other states, there are no laws preventing the police from lying to someone to compel a confession. Research shows that a person is more likely to give a false confession when police lie during an interrogation. These unreliable statements lead to wrongful convictions.
At a legislative briefing in January, exoneree Terrill Swift came to Massachusetts to speak at the State House about the importance of banning deception and recording interrogations. He spent 15 years in prison based on a false confession before DNA and other evidence demonstrated his innocence. Terrill joined interrogation experts Mark Fallon and Haley Cleary to discuss how this legislation would be a tremendous step forward in the Commonwealth in ensuring the reliability of confession evidence and preventing wrongful convictions based on false confessions.
While we were not successful in passing this legislation this year, we began the long process of shifting public opinion about the importance of banning deception and recording interrogations through our education and awareness efforts. You can hear more about the effort to pursue this legislation on a podcast episode of “Conversations with Kate” and through the Fact Sheet for this bill.
You can read an excerpt from the testimony by NEIP Executive Director Radha Natarajan below:
“For the last 8 years, I have had a front-row seat to what it takes to overturn a conviction in Massachusetts. It can sometimes take decades to correct even one wrongful conviction, during which time the person loses their freedom as well as family members, health, and so much more. With this bill, you have the opportunity to prevent one of the leading causes of wrongful conviction and prevent this kind of trauma at a systemic level.
Deception is a key reason why people confess to a crime they never committed. And there are many factors that can make people more susceptible to falsely confessing through deception: age, cognitive impairment, mental illness, and things like hunger and sleep deprivation. Many of these are lifelong and impact people well beyond the age of 18.
False confessions virtually guarantee a wrongful conviction. That’s especially true where the statements made, or the deceptive tactics used, were not recorded. Recording interrogations is necessary to uncover false confessions.”
Compensating Those Wrongfully Convicted in Massachusetts
When we walk with someone into freedom, while it is a joyous moment, their fight does not end there. Exonerees face challenges receiving compensation for all they have lost. This year, we partnered with Senator Patricia Jehlen, Representative Jeffrey Roy, and Representative Christopher Worrell to pursue fairer and more comprehensive compensation for exonerees in Massachusetts. On Wrongful Conviction Day, Oct. 2, 2023, people directly impacted held a press conference at the State House to speak about the losses they faced while wrongfully convicted, the challenges they endured upon release, and the need for improved compensation by the state. We know that legislative changes take a long time and are hopeful that our efforts will translate to a meaningful impact for our community members in the near future.
Second Look Sentencing in Rhode Island
We know that our work to correct wrongful convictions is often met with fierce resistance and one of the most difficult legal landscapes to navigate. Innocent people sometimes have to pursue repeated post-conviction litigation over decades to finally succeed at overturning their wrongful conviction. We are always looking for alternative ways for people to gain their freedom while we continue to fight their wrongful conviction, and “Second Look Sentencing” provides such an opportunity. We testified in support of S2228 and H7102 to create an accessible way for courts to reexamine long-term carceral sentences. Given how many of our innocent clients have faced, and continue to face, life sentences without the possibility of parole, we will continue to fight for a path to freedom through an opportunity to demonstrate how their further incarceration does not create safety for our community.
You can read an excerpt from the testimony by NEIP Staff Attorney Laura Carey below:
“In the United States, there have been 3,493 exonerations, or cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. 917 of these innocent people were originally given extremely long sentences - life, life without parole, or death. These wrongful convictions were the result of flaws in our criminal legal system - both mistakes and purposeful wrongdoing, including mistaken eyewitnesses, unreliable forensic evidence, and coerced confessions. And they are just the tip of the iceberg. At the New England Innocence Project we receive hundreds of letters from innocent people in prison throughout New England each year asking for our help.
The proposed bill gives individuals like my client, John, a second chance – a forum to present evidence of his factual innocence, his admirable disciplinary record over the last almost 30 years, and the person he has become. This chance would provide hope and hope is often all innocent individuals have to hold on to while incarcerated, fighting for their freedom and their very lives.
The risk of sentencing an innocent person to die in prison is not hypothetical, it is real. Reviewing lengthy sentences provides an important mechanism to scrutinize potential wrongful convictions with the benefit of time, advancements in science and understanding, and new facts. I hope Rhode Island will take this important step and pass H7102.”
Reducing Barriers to Challenging Wrongful Convictions in New Hampshire
Extending the statute of limitation for motions for new trial: We encounter many barriers to challenging wrongful convictions in our work throughout New England, including in New Hampshire where the statute of limitations requires that motions for new trial be filed within 3 years of the “rendition of the judgment.” This statute of limitations timeline is very difficult to meet and hinders wrongful conviction litigation. The changes proposed by SB507 extend the statute of limitations for motions for new trial in certain circumstances and would offer a meaningful pathway to overturning wrongful convictions. The bill has passed the House and Senate, but is still awaiting the Governor's signature.
You can read an excerpt from the testimony in support of SB 507 by NEIP NH Staff Attorney Cynthia Mousseau below:
“In 2016, the National Registry for Exonerations reported that an average exoneration took 11 years, almost three times the New Hampshire limit. Wrongful conviction work is slow for many reasons: it is hard to find case documents years after the case was closed, witnesses have died or moved, scientific understanding of evidence has changed, etc.
In New Hampshire, where only 3 exonerations have occurred and there is only one attorney looking into these cases full time, the 3-year limitation period is preventing viable claims of innocence from coming to light.”
Recording police interrogations: Failing to ensure that all police interrogations are recorded not only deprives the court process of the transparency and accountability that should be its hallmarks, but often results in the incarceration of people for crimes they did not commit. SB 80 would require recording of all police interrogations and we have continued our educational and advocacy campaigns around this issue in the past year. Currently, this has been referred to interim study but we are continuing our fight to push it forward.
You can read an excerpt from our educational campaign from NEIP NH Staff Attorney Cynthia Mousseau below:
“Recording police interrogations can ensure that evidence is reliable, honest, and as accurate as possible. In a criminal legal system that relies on evidence, only the most accurate and objective evidence should be accepted.
We can and should promote transparency and the best and most accurate evidence in our courtrooms. Recording interrogations brings reliability to the criminal legal process and could very well prevent wrongful convictions in the future.”
Passing new laws can take a long time and requires a great deal of community support. As we continue to pursue change throughout New England, we hope you will support our efforts with calls to your legislators and with educating your neighbors on some of the important issues that need our collective attention. Together, we know we can create meaningful change for all of us.
