Dear John,

I’m Mitha, a staff attorney here at the Innocence Project. I lead the Neighborhood Project, which looks at the community impacts of new and racially indiscriminate tools for police surveillance. The goal of this initiative is to prevent future wrongful convictions and assure ethical, transparent use of new technology. 

Today, I’m reaching out to share why the Innocence Project is engaging early and vigilantly with the issue of artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to wrongful conviction, and why our work is so critical to pushing back on its dangers.

Too often, AI-based police surveillance technology and similar tools reinforce existing biases in our criminal legal system — a sort of digital parallel to the biases behind “stop and frisk,” which overwhelmingly targeted innocent people of color. Sensors and programs that can’t distinguish reliably between Black and brown faces exponentially increase the risk of placing innocent people behind bars. What’s more, it’s very hard to demonstrate this technology’s unreliability in post-conviction, unlike flawed forensic evidence that can be disproven through DNA evidence. 

To top it all off, there’s already a deep lack of transparency in how law enforcement is using these unvalidated tools — repeating a pattern we’ve seen before with forensic methods like bite mark comparison that were once used widely and now are thoroughly discredited. 

John, when it comes to transforming our criminal legal system and the tools and biases that result in wrongful convictions, any amount you can give will help. Will you help us get 2024 off to a strong start by chipping in today?

It’s essential that we sound the alarm on this issue now, so please don’t delay your support. The Innocence Project and our local partners that we work with at the Neighborhood Project are committed to exposing these risks and to give impacted communities a voice in how these tools are used.

John, donate today to help us stay ahead of these technological advances and shed light on their relationship with wrongful conviction.

Thank you,

Mitha Nandagopalan
Staff Attorney, Strategic Litigation
The Innocence Project