Making An Exoneree 2019

Wednesday, May 1, 7-9pm
Lohrfink Auditorium
 

The Prisons and Justice Initiative was proud to host its second annual presentation of “Making an Exoneree,” a powerful and moving event that highlighted the life-changing work of the 18 Georgetown students who took the “Prison Reform Project” class, taught by Professor Marc Howard and Adjunct Professor and 2008 Exoneree Martin Tankleff. Howard and Tankleff are childhood friends, and Howard helped Tankleff secure his exoneration after more than 17 years of wrongful imprisonment. Now they have joined forces to inspire their students to help free other wrongfully convicted people. Last year’s version of the class succeeded in exonerating Valentino Dixon, who had spent 27 years in prison, and the other three cases have now secured legal representation and are making significant progress that will hopefully lead to more exonerations in the future.

The Spring 2019 version of the class focused on six potential exonerees who have been incarcerated for almost 150 years in total. The students created short documentaries that make the case for innocence, while seeking to inspire their audience to create social, moral, and legal pressure to correct these judicial errors.

Through their efforts, these amazing Georgetown students became the voices of these potential exonerees. This extraordinary event was also attended by the family members and close supporters of the six wrongfully convicted people that the class is trying to free.

Please click here for the full playlist of the students’ documentaries.