Three authors challenged law school students last night to leave the halls of academic and seek out injustice.
Former O.J. Simpson lawyer Barry Scheck joined the co-authors of his new book, Actual Innocence, lawyer Peter Neufeld and columnist Jim Dwyer, in a panel discussion about the possibilities for DNA to exonerate the wrongly convicted.
The trio discussed their work over the last decade on "The Innocence Project," a program based at the Cardozo School of Law in Wisconsin, which has helped to exonerate 70 people--including eight on death row--in North America using DNA evidence.
The trio documented 10 cases in their book, painting a portrait of a justice system full of mishandled evidence, corrupt prosecutors and mistaken identities.
"These people could not get heard," Dwyer said. "The system didn't work."
Joining the authors were L. Michael Seidman, a Georgetown University law professor, Bill Kovach, Nieman Foundation curator, and Richard Lewontin, Agassiz research professor in comparative zoology.
Each approached the issue from a different perspective--scholar, journalist and scientist--but agreed on the fundamental basis.
"We can't get rid of this problem, but we can do a hell of a lot better," Seidman said.
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