UIS Illinois Innocence Project honors International Wrongful Conviction Day on October 2, 2017

WHAT: The Illinois Innocence Project (IIP), based at the University of Illinois Springfield, will host one of dozens of events throughout the world recognizing International Wrongful Conviction Day. The public is invited to a visual display recognizing individuals who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.

WHEN: Monday, October 2, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Quad – between the Colonnade and the Student Union

DETAILS: UIS students interning and volunteering with the Illinois Innocence Project have created a flag display recognizing the 2,098 innocent men and women who were convicted of crimes they did not commit and have been exonerated since 1989. “UIS blue” flags in the display represent 199 Illinois exonerees.

Collectively, these exonerees lost 18,250 years of their lives, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Illinois exonerees lost a total of 2,135 years of their lives. An overwhelming majority of exonerees in the United States are people of color.

International Wrongful Conviction Day began four years ago with the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted. The day is designed to recognize the tremendous personal, social and legal costs associated with wrongful criminal convictions. To date, seven nations participate with events designed to inform and educate the international community on the causes, consequences and complications associated with wrongful criminal convictions.

For more information on the Illinois Innocence Project – Wrongful Conviction Day events, contact Lauren Myerscough-Mueller at 217/206-6051.