Week 1

Hi everyone! My first week's journey delving into such a complicated topic started with the help of the great Dr. Parchesky who loaned me the book  The Craft of Research to formulate what research questions I actually wanted to look into. I came up with "How do wrongful convictions lead to prosecutorial misconduct?" How does police misconduct condone false confessions, and thus lead to wrongful convictions?" "What are the factors that actually lead to this ultimate miscarriage of justice, and what steps do we have to take to prevent this?" After solidifying my research questions, I started some preliminary research. I came upon the Innocence Project which was founded in 1992 which helps assist those that are wrongfully convicted and can be proven innocent through DNA testing. They have four goals: 1) Exonerate 2) Improve 3) Reform 4) Support. The Innocence Project is in many states such as Florida, and Minnesota. Specific to Arizona, our project's name is the Justice Project. Founded in 1998, this Justice Project is a branch of the Innocence Project and works to help those whose pleas of innocence go unheard. I also looked into autobiographies so I can get insight into the actual feelings and thoughts of those who were convicted, and I came across the books Actual Innocence and Manifest Injustice. I will start reading these books, and drafting my outline during Week 2!