The committee for public counsel services innocence program (CPCS) and the boston college innocence program (BCIP) have collaborated and secured the release and exoneration of dozens of wrongfully…

This Project Grant award of $599,791 from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (CFDA 16.746 - Capital Case Litigation Initiative) supports the collaboration between the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) Innocence Program and the Boston College Innocence Program (BCIP). The funding will be used to:

1. Expand staffing and contracting with impacted individuals and experienced litigators at CPCS and BCIP to address underrepresentation of women in wrongful conviction cases, inadequate post-conviction discovery practices, and wrongful convictions stemming from misconduct by the Boston Police Department.

2. Develop and implement research-based improvements to outreach and case screening protocols to increase access to legal assistance for potentially wrongfully convicted women.

3. Expand CPCS's existing data project to better identify patterns of official misconduct disproportionately impacting underrepresented populations and generate data to improve innocence case screening and litigation, as well as support discovery reform efforts.

4. Incorporate Westlaw's new AI assistant, Co-Counsel, into the analysis of data collected by CPCS and BCIP to enhance their ability to identify patterns of official misconduct.

5. Maintain an independent source of investigators and experts to support meritorious innocence claims.

A sub-award of an unspecified amount will be provided to the Boston College Innocence Program to support this collaborative Massachusetts Innocence Investigation and Litigation project. The award period runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2027.

The committee for public counsel services innocence program (CPCS) and the boston college innocence program (BCIP) have collaborated and secured the release and exoneration of dozens of wrongfully convicted individuals. CPCS and BCIP have established an innovative data project and supported critical law and policy reforms. These successes have led them to identify the following three areas of need: the underrepresentation of female in wrongful conviction cases; the inadequacy of existing post-conviction discovery practices and protocols to ensure access to evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct; and the need for innovative strategies to respond to the alarming number of wrongful convictions in suffolk county stemming from misconduct by the boston police department. BJA funds will be used to support the following areas of need: staffing at CPCS and BCIP; contracting with directly impacted persons and experienced litigators; developing and implementing research-based improvements to outreach and case screening protocols to increase access to legal assistance of wrongfully convicted women; expanding CPCS pre-existing data project to better identify patterns of official misconduct disproportionately impacting black, indigenous, and people of color and to generate data to improve screening and litigating innocence cases and support discovery reform; and incorporating westlaws new artificial intelligence assistant, CO-counsel, into analysis of data collected by CPCS and BCIP to improve efforts to identify patterns of official misconduct. In addition, CPCS and BCIP seek funding to maintain an independent source of investigators and experts for use in cases where there is a need for professional investigators and/or expert witnesses to identify or litigate a meritorious innocence claim.