On Tuesday, November 20th, our group of 3 people set out to meet with Kristin Pulkkinen at the Innocence Project. The Innocence Project is a organization created 20 years ago to use science to correct judicial miscarriages and exonerate innocent prisoners.

Kristin Pulkkinen is the project’s Assistant Director of Individual giving, and was the person who we contacted to create a meeting with. After our short trip to 40 Worth Street, we asked her a few questions about the Innocence Project, its goals, and her job. Kristin was always interested in social justice and in 2007 joined the Innocence Project as it gained more and more momentum exonerating dozens of people every year.

The only way prisoners can contact the project is by letter, and The Innocence Project receives 10 letters every day. That’s 2,500-3,600 every year. The project has 9 workers who go through the letters to see if The Innocence Project can take the case. Only very few people’s cases are taken. The Innocence Project looks for cases in which DNA evidence is used. The process of exonerating someone goes like this:

The letter from the inmate is received —-> A questionaire is sent to the inmate —-> A team sees if the case fits criteria —-> They then try to find evidence and case files —-> Case is given to Staff Attorney and taken to court

Yet this process is much harder than it looks. Especially in New York. In NY, so much evidence is mislabeled or misplaced. There has not been a single New York “exoneree” in 9 years, even thought the most cases come from Illinois, Texas, and New York. Often prosecutors hide evidence to weaken the defense’s case.

Kristin Pulkkinen creates fund-raisers for freed inmates and a team of 2 social workers support the inmate’s family after and before they are exonerated.

We learned very much from our wonderful interview and tour of the office. A quotation from Ms. Pulkkinen struck me: “The work we are doing here is just the tip of the iceberg”.

Camilo Durr signing off.

(We still have to research the NYU site: bethewitness.org)