Pursuing Systemic Change through Our Amicus Work

Pursuing Systemic Change through Our Amicus Work

A Reflection on NEIP’s Policy Change Efforts, June 2021 - 2022

As part of our mission to correct and prevent wrongful convictions, we must continue to pursue systemic change through our amicus work.  Our advocacy efforts in court aim to make the law more responsive to people’s needs and community demands.

In the last year, we have filed numerous amicus letters and briefs in the Supreme Judicial Court. Here are just a few of the issues we have been raising with the Court in the last year:

1. Gang evidence must be heavily scrutinized in joint venture cases because it takes on an outsized, and racialized, significance in jurors’ minds
   

2. Showup identifications disproportionately contribute to wrongful convictions and should be excluded as admissible evidence in court except in rare circumstances
   

3. The Court should abolish pretextual traffic stops: The overwhelming evidence of racial bias in pretext stops renders them unreasonable
   

4. Police officers’ subjective perceptions of suspicion are neither inherently nor especially reliable

Our amicus work is just one of many ways we advocate for freedom and fight against injustice, and we are grateful to our community partners, with whom we work in coalition, as well as our pro bono partners, who support this aspect of our work.  The fight continues.