An Innocence Project is a group of (not necessarily law) students investigating the case of a convicted person maintaining innocence who has exhausted the initial appeals process under academic supervision and with pro bono legal assistance from a practising lawyer. Students aim to find evidence that will assist them in making an application to the CCRC or the SCCRC for that person’s case to be reviewed for referral back to the appeal courts.

It is also possible that innocence projects may make applications for a Free Pardon under the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in applications to the Secretary of State if strong evidence of innocence exist that does not provide legal grounds for appeal in the eyes of the CCRC and/or the SCCRC.

There are no definitive criteria for innocence projects, other than that they are concerned with allegations of factual/actual innocence as opposed to allegations of technical miscarriages of justice. Innocence projects do not consider claims that murder convictions should have been convictions for manslaughter, for instance.

It is important to note, however, that the INUK and its member innocence projects are not a replacement for legal aid.

The structures of the existing criminal appeal system cannot guarantee that all innocent victims of wrongful conviction will overturn their convictions. Instead, the appeal courts attempt to determine whether criminal convictions are ‘unsafe’ in terms of whether the trial was 'fair', understood as compliance with the prevailing rules, as opposed to fair in terms of a just outcome from a lay perspective where a factually guilty person is convicted in a criminal trial and a factually innocent person acquitted.

In addition, legal aid is not always available to persons maintaining their innocence wishing to appeal, so finances are often a huge problem. Also, much has been written about the reducing number of criminal legal aid lawyers, so access to appropriate legal advice is not always easy.

There is no single model for creating and running an innocence project, so projects will run in different ways. One size does not fit all!

Our member innocence projects choose suitable cases from the central INUK casebank. INUK informs the 'client' that the case has been allocated to one of its innocence projects, who then correspond with the 'client' to seek clarification of issues relating to the case. Innocence project investigations include obtaining, as far as possible, a full set of case documents including evidence both used and unused at trial, prison visits to alleged innocent victims of wrongful conviction, interviewing or contacting witnesses, writing reports for solicitors and barristers, writing submissions to the appropriate public/ legal bodies and meetings with forensic science experts.

The first stage of the Casework Process is a letter from a convicted person maintaining innocence asking the Innocence Network UK for assistance. An Introductory Letter and a Preliminary Questionnaire is sent out by the INUK Casework Team. The Preliminary Questionnaire asks straight forward questions about the case:

When the completed Preliminary Questionnaire is returned, the Casework Team will assess whether the case is eligible to be worked on by a member innocence project. A case is deemed ‘eligible’ if:

Stage 2 - Investigation by an innocence project

When cases deemed to be eligible are allocated to a member innocence project, more specific questions that arise from the completed Preliminary Questionnaire are put to the prisoner. For instance, clarification may be sought about any potential evidence that was mentioned. This may include the names and addresses of potential alibi witnesses; guidance about obtaining fresh evidence; allegations put forward by the prisoner as evidence of their innocence that student caseworkers may wish to further explore and/or confirm. In essence, this stage of the casework process is a rigorous ‘test’ of the information provided in the Preliminary Questionnaire. Anything that you may be unsure of is made sure of at this stage.

Student caseworkers and supervisors will try to obtain a full set of case documents from previous solicitors utilising an ‘Authority of Release Letter’ which is signed by the client. This can involve many boxes of case materials – trial summing up; Court of Appeal judgement; applications to the CCRC/SCCRC; witness statements; photographs and other exhibits, and so on. This will often arrive in a highly disorganised state and requires a methodical and meticulous approach to putting the case files back into chronological order.

Once the case documents are organised, the student caseworkers will identify any discrepancies that need to be verified or lines of inquiry that needs further investigation. This may include making contact with witnesses, obtaining evidence from police and other public bodies, and contacting forensic scientists for their services and/or expert opinion where appropriate.

Stage 3 - Application to the CCRC/SCCRC or an application to the Secretary of State for a Royal Prerogative of Mercy

If a full investigation turns up grounds for appeal, the innocence project student members will work with supervisors and/or lawyers to make a formal application to the CCRC/SCCRC and, if the case is referred, the lawyers will prepare the case for an appeal hearing.

It is also possible that innocence projects will also make applications for a Free Pardon under the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in applications to the Secretary of State if evidence of innocence does not provide grounds for an application to the CCRC and/or the SCCRC.

Solicitor takes on the case

If a full investigation turns up grounds for appeal, the supervising solicitors formally take on the case and prepare it for trial.

We believe that member innocence projects should work to agreed protocols, to manage the expectations of our users, and to create and retain a professional recognition and standing independent of, but aligned to, the practising legal profession.

This includes minimum standards for ‘client’ care and keeps in mind at all times the need to inform alleged innocent victims of wrongful conviction of the progress of their case.

At a very basic level, this involves regular letters to clients during term time, or following all meetings with supervising solicitors and barristers about the case.

We further recommend that student investigators in member innocence projects follow some basic guidelines, including:

1. As a precursor to case work, they should first familiarise themselves with all of the materials that are available in the public domain on the basis that lack of knowledge of case facts will tend to induce lack of trust and credibility.

2. They should produce a timeline for the case – a detailed chronology of the incident, followed by significant events (hearings etc.) The timeline can be used as a tool to identify discrepancies or find problems with the case.

3. They should early on produce a list of key characters and the names and contact details of anyone who is involved in the case in any way.

4. All casework should be recorded in some form of case management system, listing all the documents on the case, where they are and what they contain. This aids the production of the required annual report to INUK on each case under investigation.

5. They should be aware of key communication skills, such as active listening, questioning, interviewing generally, letter and report writing, and the need to recognise when to seek guidance from supervisors and/or lawyers.

6. Before any approach is made to potential witnesses or clients, they must always seek express guidance from supervisors and/or lawyers.

We believe it is of paramount importance to avoid giving prisoners and the general public the naïve impression that innocence projects are the answer to all their problems, and that within months our projects will have innocent prisoners freed.

We currently have around 70 cases being investigated by member innocence projects and around 100 eligible cases on our waiting list for allocation to a member innocence project. As such, we are unable to guarantee that all of our eligible cases will be looked at by an innocence project in the near future.

In addition, innocence projects lack investigative powers (e.g. powers to access privileged documents/ evidence), and, there are complex evidential issues and huge, sometimes insurmountable, hurdles stand in the way of persuading the CCRC/SCCRC to refer a case back to the appeal courts.

The statistics are against us, and the timescales involved are long. But where our innocence projects are involved with a person maintaining innocence, we consider that we can offer hope and keen critical student minds where otherwise someone may have little hope.

There are considerable educational benefits associated with the study of alleged claims of wrongful conviction, adding valuable insight and experience into the curriculum of law and society. Those teaching potential future lawyers, for instance, can observe the educational benefits of innovative programmes involving real-client work, whilst ensuring that future practitioners develop a passion for justice, ethical practice, and pro bono work. Some key educational rewards that accompany innocence projects are summarised as follows:

‘Lawyering’ skills: dealing with clients, acting like a professional and dealing with other professionals, communication skills – written/oral/formal presentation.

Critical thinking and analysis: Problem solving, creative/lateral thinking, collaboration.

Case management: record keeping/time management, organisation and prioritising, dealing with interruptions and unscheduled work.

Fact-finding: utilising variety of resources, use of different disciplines outside of law, application of law to the facts.

Students learn essential transferable legal, personal and communication skills through their involvement with real-life cases, whether they intend to work in commercial or high-street law firms. In this way, innocence projects are a viable low-cost alternative form of clinical legal education for universities.