Founded in 2001 by veteran investigative reporter and Point Park University professor Bill Moushey, the Innocence Institute has grown from a single reporter’s idea to a tightly organized team of dedicated young professionals.
With a Spartan budget, the students at Point Park University learn the craft of investigative journalism by working diligently to investigate allegations of wrongful convictions. Students produce multi-media investigative reports about cases that usually take place within a 100-mile radius of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Graduates, trained by the Innocence Institute, have entered the media field and accomplished exonerations of the wrongfully convicted on their own.
The Innocence Institute has been involved in 17 cases that have either been reopened or reversed since 2001, and has achieved success in helping to free the wrongfully convicted. It has also become a leading voice across the nation in exposing systemic issues in the criminal justice system, such as:
- Eyewitness Identifications
- False Confessions
- Forensic Science
- Issues related to juvenile offenders sentenced to life in prison
This work has spurred unprecedented numbers of requests for assistance from anxious prisoners and their families who claim to be victims of miscarriages of justice. It also has caused the Innocence Institute’s website (www.innocenceinstitute.org) to enjoy thousands of visits ranging from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and many other American cities to Korea, Russia, England, and other locales throughout the world.
The Innocence Institute has won numerous local, regional and statewide awards for its work.