Duke University will invest $1.25 million over the next five years for its law school to establish a center devoted to the promotion of justice in the criminal justice system and the training of lawyers to fight against wrongful convictions, President Richard H. Brodhead announced Wednesday.
Duke to Establish Justice Center
AP via SFGate ^ 9/19/7
Durham, N.C. (AP) -- In the wake of the now-debunked rape case against three lacrosse players, Duke University will establish a center devoted to justice and training lawyers to fight wrongful convictions, president Richard Brodhead said Wednesday.
Duke will invest $1.25 million over the next five years for the project at the law school, which will also expand its Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project. The clinic and the Innocence Project investigate claims of innocence by the state's convicted felons and raise awareness of problems in the criminal justice system.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com
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Addressing problems in the North Carolina legal system highlighted by the Duke lacrosse case, the center will incorporate and expand the law school’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic and Innocence Project, which investigate credible claims of innocence made by convicted felons in North Carolina and work to raise public awareness of systemic problems in the criminal justice system that lead to wrongful convictions.
“The lacrosse case attracted a lot of publicity, but is not the only case in which innocent people have suffered harm through the state’s legal system,” said Duke Law Professor James Coleman, who led a university committee that examined the lacrosse team’s behavior apart from the case and later was prominent in criticizing the actions of former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong.
Coleman and Associate Dean Theresa Newman, who co-teach the Wrongful Convictions Clinic and serve as faculty advisors to the law school’s student-led Innocence Project, are expected to play key roles in the development of the new center. They are leaders in law reform efforts surrounding the issue and serve on the North Carolina Chief Justice’s Criminal Justice Study Commission (formerly named the North Carolina Actual Innocence Commission).
excerpt from Duke University News
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