The Schuster Institute
for Investigative Journalism

Academic experts suggest there are thousands of innocent people in prisons in the United States because of systemic failures and wrongdoing within the criminal justice system. No one knows exactly how many.

Investigative journalists have a role to play in uncovering such cases of wrongful conviction and incarceration. Three journalists who have experience investigating suspected wrongful convictions will discuss the many obstacles reporters face while investigating such cases and strategies for overcoming them; the challenges of investigating cases with and without DNA evidence; and advice about handling common ethical issues. The panelists will also explore the major issues that contribute to wrongful convictions. 

Panelists' Bios

Anne Driscoll (moderator) is an award-winning journalist, author, and senior reporter at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. Her work at the Institute is largely centered on two Justice Brandeis Innocence Project murder cases, including interviewing key witnesses, uncovering new leads, securing and researching court documents, and coordinating with Brandeis University student investigators who work for the Institute.  

Alec Klein is a professor of journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and the director of their Medill Innocence Project. He is also an award-winning journalist and the author of the bestseller "Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner" (Simon & Schuster 2003). In 2011, Klein led journalism students as they investigated the case of a Chicago man convicted of a shotgun murder, uncovering a medical injury that was never raised at trial and that ultimately challenged the prisoner’s guilt. The students’ article drew national media attention, prompted ethical reform and was a finalist for a Society of Professional Journalists’ award. 

Lindsay Markel is assistant director of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University which includes the Justice Brandeis Innocence Project (JBIP), a journalism-based project which was founded to investigate cases in which exoneration won’t hinge on DNA testing. The JBIP uses investigative reporting methods to re-investigate potential wrongful convictions from the ground up, and will publish its findings of flaws in the criminal justice system through print and broadcast.

Erin Moriarty is an award-winning broadcast journalist who has been a correspondent for the CBS News program “48 Hours” since 1990. Trained as an attorney, Moriarty has focused on wrongfully accused and convicted cases. Her investigation of the case involving Marty Tankleff, convicted in 1988 of killing his parents, resulted in new evidence and his conviction being overturned. Her coverage of Ryan Ferguson’s murder conviction in Missouri in 2005 resulted in new witnesses coming forward and a Habeas hearing earlier this year. 

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Links to Reporting on
Suspected Cases of Wrongful Conviction

"Behind B18: Investigating the Ariel Gomez Case," Ranjani Chakraborty, Grace Johnson, Deborah Kim, Rowena Li, Nicola Paracchini, March 14, 2012, Medill Innocence Project, Northwestern University.

"Video: The Story Behind the Story," (Ariel Gomez case), Alison Flowers and Liana Trubowitz, December 8, 2011, Medill Innocence Project, Northwestern University. 

"Inmates Access to DNA Evidence, Part I," (Part II), Phillip Martin, November 21, 2011, WGBH.

"Failing the DNA Test," Michael Blanding and Lindsay Markel, November 18, 2011, The Boston Globe Magazine.

"Up in Smoke," Michael Blanding, April 2011, Boston Magazine.

"The Lost Night," (case of Ryan Ferguson), Erin Moriarty, March 26, 2011, 48 Hours, CBS News.

"Marty Tankleff's fight for the truth," Erin Moriarty, January 26, 2008, 48 Hours, CBS News.

"Video: The Story Behind the Story," (Ariel Gomez case), Alison Flowers and Liana Trubowitz, December 8, 2011, Medill Northwestern University.  

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Resources for Reporting
on Wrongful Convictions

Factsheet

Common causes of wrongful convictions

Journalists: How you can localize the Troy Davis story, September 22, 2011, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.

Preventable Error: A Report on Prosecutorial Misconduct in California 1997-2009, Veritas Initiative.

National Academy of Sciences Urges Comprehensive Reform of U.S. Forensic Sciences, February 18, 3009, Innocence Project.

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