While the criminal justice system aspires to accuracy, it remains fundamentally shaped by colonial and enslavement-era legal frameworks that treated human beings as property. These structural origins have produced enduring imperfections in legal outcomes, including wrongful convictions.
This reality exposes additional weaknesses in the justice system, such as flawed forensic science, unreliable eyewitness testimony, improper identification procedures, and coercive interrogation practices. Understanding these failures requires a historical examination of the legal regimes that normalized injustice.
The Melvin Lee Wrongful Conviction Law School offers students a rigorous opportunity to study the origins of legal systems that systematically prosecuted and imprisoned marginalized communities.
Reviewing historical case materials to identify missed opportunities for justice
Conducting investigative and archival research into wrongful conviction cases
Exploring forensic testing, witness review, and exculpatory evidence discovery
Analyzing jury contamination, Fourth Amendment violations, and mental health concerns
Studying constitutional limits on sentencing and punishment
Researching and drafting motions for post-conviction relief in state and federal courts
This program is designed as a one-semester offering that provides students with a foundational understanding of slave law and wrongful conviction. Participants meet weekly for seminar-based discussion and engage in guided fieldwork connected to real-world legal injustices.
By engaging with these materials, students and scholars contribute directly to the pursuit of justice, equity, and historical accountability within the legal system.