Project Grant 2020FABX0007

The Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory Division (WSPCLD) will use a $550,000 Project Grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance to sustain its Postconviction DNA Initiative through September 2025. Under the grant program titled "Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence" (CFDA 16.820), WSPCLD will continue partnering with the Washington Innocence Project to provide innocent prisoners with timely access to DNA technologies for...

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded a $1,500,000 Project Grant to the State of Illinois Attorney General's Office to establish a Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). The CIU will review and investigate violent felony cases where new, credible evidence of innocence has been discovered or where new technologies allow for testing of remaining evidence, with a focus on DNA analysis. Key activities to be supported include screening and reviewing potential...

The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office in Michigan was awarded a $1,600,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence program (CFDA 16.820). The purpose of the grant is to assist the county's newly established Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in reviewing claims of wrongful conviction, locating biological evidence, conducting DNA testing, and recommending relief when warranted. The CIU has received a high...

The Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded a $855,000 Project Grant under the Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence program (CFDA 16.820) to the Iowa State Public Defender's Wrongful Conviction Division (WCD). The grant will help the WCD and its partners, the Midwest Innocence Project and Drake Law School's Legal Clinic, expand their capacity to identify and litigate claims of actual innocence through postconviction DNA testing. Specifically, the funding will enable the WCD to hire additional...

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded $550,000 under the Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence federal grant program (CFDA 16.820) to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office for a project period of October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2025. The award will support efforts by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Conviction Integrity Unit and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School Innocence Project to expedite the review of approximately 250 DNA-related...

The Travis County District Attorney's Office, in partnership with the Innocence Project of Texas (IPTX), received a $599,504 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Capital Case Litigation Initiative (CCLI) and Wrongful Conviction Review Program (CFDA 16.746). The grant will fund a two-year "Confession Review Team" initiative to strategically review homicide cases handled by the Austin Police Department's Homicide Unit from...

The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded a $600,000 Project Grant under the Capital Case Litigation Initiative (CCLI) and Wrongful Conviction Review Program (CFDA 16.746) to the California Innocence Project Foundation (CIPF). The funding will support CIPF's efforts to review, investigate, and litigate claims of wrongful conviction from prisoners convicted in Southern California counties. CIPF plans to work with conviction integrity units, where available, to free the...

The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded a $599,658 Project Grant (CFDA 16.746 - Capital Case Litigation Initiative) to the Innocence Project of Florida, Inc. to support the "Collaborative Justice in Eyewitness Misidentification Cases Project." This 3-year grant, effective October 1, 2024, will enable the Innocence Project of Florida to collaborate with the Broward County State Attorney's Office Conviction Review Unit to review cases with potential...

This $1,523,688.00 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (CFDA 16.820 - Postconviction Testing of DNA Evidence) will establish the Dutchess County District Attorney's inaugural Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU). The CIU will conduct thorough case reviews and investigations of violent felony convictions where a credible claim of actual innocence has been made, and utilize DNA testing and analysis to provide conclusive evidence of innocence. This...

The Pinellas County Forensic Laboratory (PCFL) received a $329,091 DNA Backlog Reduction Program grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant, which runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2025, will enable PCFL to acquire, validate, and implement a Rapid DNA system to analyze known DNA samples more efficiently. This is intended to streamline the laboratory's workflow and reduce turnaround times, which have exceeded 30 days on average...