Address
P.O. Box 52446 Shannon Plaza Station
Durham, NC 27717-2446
Website
www.nccai.org
Description
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2000, the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence (the Center) identifies, investigates, and advances credible innocence claims of convicted felons in North Carolina. Its primary mission is to identify and correct wrongful convictions, obtaining justice for those imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, for the victims of those crimes, and for the true perpetrators.
The Center’s secondary mission is to educate policymakers, the public, and legal and law enforcement communities about the factors that contribute to wrongful convictions. It also promotes emerging solutions, which can help increase the reliability of convictions.
The Center oversees Innocence Projects® at North Carolina law schools and provides legal services to indigent, unrepresented North Carolina inmates claiming factual innocence. Each year, it coordinates the case review and investigation of numerous cases by hundreds of student volunteers.
The Center dedicates itself to freeing innocent prisoners, but exonerating an innocent person does not negate the injustice of his incarceration. Indeed, the Center would rather ensure the reliability of convictions to make sure wrongful ones never happen at all. This requires justice system reform.
To that end, the Center also focuses its efforts on education, training, and reform to help prevent wrongful convictions. Throughout the year, the Center participates in speaking and training opportunities. These activities educate justice system stakeholders and the public about the Center’s work, as well as North Carolina’s leadership role in criminal justice reform.
Category
Crime & Legal-Related, Other
