TORONTO, March 14, 2002 -- The Innocence Project, a clinical program at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, is hosting a unique conference March 16 to 17, 2002. The conference will address such topics as how to start your own Innocence Project, causes and remedies for wrongful convictions, and how to investigate a wrongful conviction.

A Round-Table Discussion, featuring victims of miscarriages of justice who were either wrongly charged themselves, or who as family members or survivors were denied the truth about the crime that affected their lives, will also form part of the conference.

Guest speakers will include:

James Lockyer, a prominent defence lawyer who has been involved in remedying most of the significant cases of wrongful conviction of the past 10 years as a Director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC).

John Turtle, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and School of Justice Studies at Ryerson University. He is one of Canada’s leading experts in mistaken eyewitness identification and testimony.

Richard Weisman, an Associate Professor at York University and Glendon College in the departments of Sociology, Law and Society, and Arts. He has conducted groundbreaking research on various aspects of wrongful conviction, most recently the dilemma facing convicted innocents who are expected to demonstrate remorse in order to obtain parole.

Law students in Osgoode’s Innocence Project investigate cases of wrongful conviction and study the causes and remedies for miscarriages of justice under the supervision of a faculty member, with the assistance of mentors from the criminal defence bar.

Osgoode’s Innocence Project is currently the only one of its kind at a Canadian law school. Due to the volume of cases, Osgoode students are only able to work on Ontario cases. This weekend’s conference will provide advice to law students, lawyers and faculty at other law schools in Canada on how to develop their own Innocence Projects so cases in other jurisdictions can be investigated.

To register for the conference, please call the Osgoode Innocence Project office at 416-736-5174.

Registration fees (which include materials and lunch) are $40 for students and $100 for faculty and media. Dinner is $20.

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