The Innocence and Justice Clinic grew out of the Innocence Project at Wake which began in 2007 and gave students an opportunity to conduct initial case reviews to see if DNA existed which could exonerate the inmate. The Innocence and Justice Clinic was launched in 2009 to provide students with the unique opportunity to learn about the various causes of wrongful convictions – mistaken eyewitness identification, invalid or improper forensic science evidence, jailhouse informants, false confessions, ineffective assistance of counsel, police and prosecutorial misconduct – while giving them the opportunity to apply this knowledge to the investigation of cases where newly discovered evidence can prove a client’s innocence.
